REUTERS, Cairo

Hamas negotiators yesterday began intensified talks on a possible Gaza truce that would see a halt to the fighting and the return to Israel of some hostages, a Hamas official told Reuters, with the CIA director already present in Cairo for the indirect diplomacy.

The Hamas delegation arrived from the Palestinian movement’s political office in Qatar, which, along with Egypt, has tried to mediate a follow-up to a brief November ceasefire amid mounting international dismay over the soaring death toll in Gaza and the plight of its 2.3 million inhabitants.

Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas official and advisor to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, said meetings with Egyptian and Qatari mediators had begun and Hamas was dealing with their proposals “with full seriousness and responsibility”.

However, he reiterated the group’s demand that any deal should include an Israeli pullout from Gaza and an end to the offensive, conditions that Israel has previously rejected.

“Any agreement to be reached must include our national demands; the complete and permanent ending of the aggression, the full and complete withdrawal of the occupation from Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced to their homes without restriction and a real prisoner swap deal, in addition to the reconstruction and ending the blockade,” the Hamas official told Reuters.

An Israeli official signalled its core position on this was unchanged, saying “Israel will under no circumstances agree to ending the war as part of a deal to free our hostages.”

More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed - 32 of them in the past 24 hours - and more than 77,000 have been wounded in Israel’s military operation, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The bombardment has laid waste to much of the coastal enclave.

Before the talks began there was some optimism over a potential deal.

“Things look better this time but whether an agreement is on hand would depend on whether Israel has offered what it takes for that to happen,” a Palestinian official with knowledge of the mediation efforts, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Civil Defence agency and hospitals reported several more deaths from strikes in Gaza’s north, centre, and in Rafah.