The Japan Times - Hamas team heads to Cairo for Gaza talks as Israel strikes kill 26

The renewed effort follows Hamas's rejection last week of Israel's latest proposal to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza.

Talks have so far failed to produce any breakthrough since Israel resumed its air and ground assault on Gaza from March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.

"The delegation will meet with Egyptian officials to discuss new ideas aimed at reaching a ceasefire," the Hamas official said, adding the team included the group's chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya.

The latest round of discussions come a day after newly appointed US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, urged Hamas to accept a deal that would secure the release of hostages in exchange for the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"When that happens, and hostages are released which is an urgent matter for all of us, then we hope that the humanitarian aid will flow and flow freely knowing it will be done without Hamas being able to confiscate and abuse their own people", Huckabee said in a video statement.

Israel blocked all aid to Gaza on March 2, days before launching its renewed offensive.

Israel has accused the Palestinian militant group of diverting aid, which Hamas denies.

"Gaza has become a land of desperation," Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, said on X on Tuesday.

"Hunger is spreading and deepening, deliberate and manmade.... Humanitarian aid is being used as a bargaining chip and a weapon of war."

Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, brokered a truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas which began on January 19 and enabled a surge in aid, alongside the exchange of hostages and prisoners.

But that truce collapsed after disagreements emerged over the terms of the next stage.

- Israeli strikes continue -

Hamas had insisted that negotiations be held for a second phase of the truce, leading to a permanent end to the war, as outlined in the January framework.

Israel, by contrast, sought an extension of the first phase.

Following the impasse, Israel blocked aid to Gaza and resumed its military campaign.

Most recently, Israel proposed a 45-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages -- an offer Hamas rejected last week.

Gaza's civil defence agency said that a spate of Israeli air strikes since dawn on Tuesday killed at least 26 people across the Hamas-run territory.

Among the fatalities were nine people when a house was struck in central Khan Yunis, Mohammad Mughayyir, a senior official from the agency told AFP, adding that six others remain trapped under the rubble.

More than 10 houses were also destroyed in the strikes, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal earlier told AFP, adding that an air strike also destroyed bulldozers and equipment belonging to the Jabalia municipality in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the latest strikes.

At least 1,890 people have been killed in Gaza since the military resumed its offensive, bringing the total death toll since the war erupted to at least 51,266, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which ignited the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

T.Sasaki--JT