GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh discussed a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in a telephone Saturday, according to the Palestinian resistance group.

Haniyeh received the call from Kamel to discuss “the course of ongoing negotiations aimed at reaching a cease-fire,” it said.

The Egyptian intelligence chief also extended condolences to Haniyeh for the deaths of his elder sister and several family members in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City last week.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire that would allow a prisoner swap between Israelis and Palestinians.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 37,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 86,800 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​​​​​​​​