Gaza talks still on, Israel says By Reuters

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and fbs foreign exchangeBassam Masoud

CAIRO/RAFAH, Gaza (Reuters) -Efforts to secure a deal on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza were still ongoing, according to a statement by Israel's intelligence agency Mossad on Saturday, despite dimming hopes for a truce during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Mossad chief David Barnea met on Friday with his U.S. counterpart William Burns to promote a deal that would see hostages released, Mossad said in a statement distributed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

"Contacts and cooperation with the mediators continue all the time in an effort to narrow the gaps and reach agreements," Mossad said.

Israel and Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules the Palestinian enclave, have traded blame over the apparent deadlock in talks in the run-up to Ramadan, which begins on or around March 10.

A Hamas source told Reuters the group's delegation was "unlikely" to make another visit to Cairo over the weekend for talks.

Egypt, the United States and Qatar have been mediating truce negotiations since January. The last deal led to a week-long pause in fighting in November during which Hamas released more than 100 hostages and Israel freed about three times as many Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas blames Israel for the impasse in negotiations for a longer ceasefire and the release of 134 hostages believed still held in Gaza - saying it refuses to give guarantees to end the war or pull its forces from the enclave.

Mossad said Hamas was digging its heels in and aiming for violence in the region to spiral during Ramadan. Israeli officials have said that the war will end only with the defeat of Hamas, whose demands Netanyahu has called "delusional".

In a statement on Saturday marking Ramadan, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh vowed the Palestinians will continue to fight Israel "until they regain freedom and independence"

Five months into Israel's air and ground assault on Gaza, health authorities there say nearly 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more bodies are feared buried under rubble.

The war was triggered by an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Stepping up pressure on the last area of Gaza it has not yet invaded with ground forces, Israel struck one of the largest residential towers in the southern city of Rafah.

The 12-floor building was damaged in the strike, and residents said dozens of families were made homeless, though no casualties were reported. Israel's military said the block was being used by Hamas to plan attacks on Israelis.

One of the 300 residents of the tower, located near the border with Egypt, told Reuters Israel gave them a 30-minute warning to flee the building at night.

"People were startled, running down the stairs, some fell, it was chaos. People left their belongings and money," said Mohammad Al-Nabrees, adding that among those who tripped down the stairs during the panicked evacuation was a friend's pregnant wife.

The strike raised alarm among residents of a wider Israeli assault on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are sheltering.

AID SHIP

Hamas on Saturday named four Israeli hostages as having died in Israeli strikes in the enclave, though it offered no evidence. The Israeli military, which declined to comment, has previously said such videos by Hamas were psychological warfare.

Israel's offensive has plunged Gaza into a humanitarian catastrophe. Much of the coastal enclave is reduced to rubble and most of its population is displaced, with the U.N. warning of disease and starvation.

The death toll from malnutrition and dehydration has risen to 25 in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesman of Gaza's health ministry said, including three children who died of dehydration and malnutrition at the northern Al Shifa Hospital overnight.

A ship laden with relief supplies for Gaza was preparing on Saturday to depart Cyprus. The European Commission has said a maritime aid corridor between Cyprus and Gaza could start operating as early as this weekend in a pilot project run by an international charity and financed by the United Arab Emirates.

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