Hamas official says undecided on sending delegation to new truce talks

A Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian armed group had not made a decision on whether to send a delegation to a new round of truce and hostage release talks.

Talks were to resume in Cairo on Sunday, Egyptian TV station Al-Qahera reported, two days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave approval for fresh negotiations.

Mediators had hoped to secure a ceasefire before the start of Ramadan, but progress stalled and the Muslim holy month is more than half over.

"There is no indication or decision yet within Hamas regarding sending a Hamas delegation to a new round of negotiations in Cairo or Doha," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The official added the gap between the two sides' negotiating positions was too wide.

"I doubt that there will be any progress in these negotiations because the positions are too far apart," said the official.

"Netanyahu is not serious and not interested, and the US administration is not exerting real pressure as long as it judges that things are still under control," he added.

His comments came after indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes killed at least 77 people overnight on Saturday and Sunday.

Israeli bombing targeted tents where displaced people were sheltering and journalists were working at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in Deir al-Balah on Sunday, killing at least two people and injuring others.

At least 32,782 people have been killed in Israel's relentless war on Gaza, most of them women and children, and the territory has been left in ruins.

Israel is still facing active armed resistance however, and has not been able to achieve its stated war aim of destroying Hamas. It is currently facing growing international pressure to end the war, amid accusations of genocide and war crimes.