Ready for new truce talks

Israel's armed forces bombarded Gaza yesterday, but officials also said diplomatic efforts were expected to resume in coming days towards a truce and hostage release deal.

Air strikes and artillery shelling rained down again overnight on northern, central and southern area of Gaza in the more than seven-months-old offensive.

Fighting has centred on the far-southern city of Rafah, where Israel has vowed to destroy the last remaining Hamas battalions despite a chorus of international opposition to a ground invasion of the city.

• 8 rockets fired at Tel Aviv from Rafah: Israeli army
• Aid trucks again roll into Gaza through Kerem Shalom crossing
• Hamas says it captured Israeli soldiers in ambush
• Death toll in Gaza now 35,984

Israel's assault there from early May led Egypt to shut its side of the Rafah border crossing -- but yesterday, aid trucks from Egypt again rolled into Gaza, this time via the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing.

US President Joe Biden said Saturday his administration was engaged in "urgent diplomacy to secure an immediate ceasefire that brings hostages home".

Mediator Egypt was also continuing "its efforts to reactivate ceasefire negotiations", said Al-Qahera News, which has links with Egyptian intelligence.

Israeli media has said intelligence chief David Barnea had agreed a new framework for talks on a ceasefire in a meeting with America's CIA chief and Qatari mediators in Paris.

An Israeli official, requesting anonymity, told AFP that "there is an intention to renew these talks this week".

However, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Qatar's Al Jazeera network that so far "there is nothing practical on this issue. It is just talk coming from the Israeli side."

Meanwhile, Israel's army said at least eight rockets were fired towards Tel Aviv yesterday from Rafah.

An AFP correspondent in the Gaza Strip reported seeing rockets being fired from Rafah, and the military said that "some of the rockets were intercepted" by Israeli air defences. Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades said it launched a "big missile" attack on Tel Aviv yesterday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under increasing domestic pressure over the fate of the hostages, with demonstrators rallying again in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

In recent days, the bodies of seven dead hostages have been retrieved from Gaza, heightening the fear and pain of relatives of the remaining captives.

Hamas said its fighters had captured Israeli soldiers during fighting in Jabalia in northern Gaza on Saturday, though the Israeli military denied the claim.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 35,984 Palestinians have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of offensive. The toll includes at least 81 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said.

The UN has warned of looming famine in the besieged territory, where most hospitals are no longer functioning.

In the latest fighting, Gaza's civil defence agency said yesterday it had retrieved six bodies after a house was targeted in a strike on Rafah's eastern Khirbet al-Adas neighbourhood.

Witnesses said Israeli artillery had also targeted central Rafah's Yibna camp, and that heavy artillery shelling hit the city's Sooq al-Halal and Qishta neighbourhoods.

Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli air strikes targeted the Nuseirat camp, and witnesses said heavy artillery shelling hit northern Gaza.

Israeli tanks in Gaza City rained heavy gunfire on targets in the Zeitun and Netzarim area, an AFP reporter said.