Israel strikes Gaza as mediators push for truce deal

Heavy strikes rocked Gaza City on Monday as Hamas and Israel staked their claims ahead of truce talks, with Israeli protesters rallying for a hostage release deal.

Mediators Egypt and Qatar were due to host new talks this week, according to officials, as the bloodiest ever Gaza war raged on into its 10th month.

Israeli troops and tanks were engaged in heavy clashes with Palestinian militants in Gaza City as fighter jets and drones crossed the skies over the besieged territory.

Thousands of civilians were on the move again in northern Gaza, while clashes rocked the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah in the conflict sparked by Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.

Cairo and Doha have resumed diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting, aiming for an initial six-week ceasefire that would see some hostages in Gaza freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails as talks would continue for a comprehensive deal to end the war.

Israel's Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar led a negotiation delegation to Egypt on Monday to continue talks with Hamas on a possible hostage swap deal and ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media.

"The head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, Ronen Bar, has traveled to Egypt to continue talks on a potential cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas," the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

"Bar will also discuss the prevention of arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian border," the newspaper added.

Hamas has signalled it would drop its insistence on a "complete" ceasefire, a demand Israel has repeatedly rejected.

A top Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Sunday that mediators had offered assurances "that as long as the... negotiations...