Hamas team heads to Cairo for Gaza talks as Israel strikes kill 26

A Hamas delegation left for Cairo to discuss "new ideas" aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, an official from the group said, as rescuers reported 26 dead in Israeli air strikes on Tuesday.

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

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

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

The discussions come a day after new US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged Hamas to accept a deal that would secure the release of hostages in exchange for humanitarian aid entering 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 has accused Hamas of diverting aid, which Palestinian militant group denies.

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

"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 exchanges of hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.

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

- Israeli strikes continue -

Hamas had insisted that negotiations be held on a second phase of the truce, leading to a permanent end to the war, as outlined in the January framework announced by former US president Joe Biden.

Israel, however, sought to extend the first phase.

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

On Tuesday, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes killed at least 26 people across the Hamas-run territory.

Nine people died when a house was struck in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, civil defence official Mohammad Mughayyir told AFP, adding that others were trapped.

"We found people torn apart," said Ahmad Shourab who witnessed the strike. "They were all women and children. What do they want from us?"

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said air strikes also destroyed bulldozers and other equipment belonging to the Jabalia municipality in northern Gaza.

"We relied on them for rescue operations to clear debris and recover the bodies of martyrs from beneath the rubble", as well as to "save lives, pull people from the rubble", Bassal said.

The Israeli military said it struck some "40 engineering vehicles used for terror purposes, including during the October 7 massacre", referring to Hamas's 2023 attack that sparked the war.

"Hamas has used these vehicles for planting explosives, digging underground routes, breaching fences and clearing rubble to locate weapons and military equipment hidden by the terrorist organisation beneath the rubble".

At least 1,890 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel 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 2023 attack on Israel 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.