An Israeli delegation is in Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, as hospital officials in Gaza said 38 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
The strikes come one day before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit the White House.
He is due to meet with US President Donald Trump tomorrow, where Mr Trump has vowed be tough on the Israeli leader in order to stop the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu on way to Washington
Mr Netanyahu said he hoped an upcoming meeting with Mr Trump could "help advance" a Gaza ceasefire deal, after sending negotiators to Doha for indirect talks with Hamas.
Speaking before boarding Israel's state jet bound for Washington, Mr Netanyahu said: "We are working to achieve this deal that we have discussed, under the conditions that we have agreed to."
He added that he had dispatched the team to Doha "with clear instructions", and thought the meeting with Mr Trump "can definitely help advance this (deal), which we are all hoping for".
Mediators in Qatar for ceasefire talks
It comes as international mediators seeking to secure a ceasefire deal to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza had informed the Palestinian group that negotiations would resume today.
"Mediators informed Hamas that a new round of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel will begin in Doha today, Sunday," said a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations and close to Hamas.
The official said the Hamas delegation, led by its top negotiator Kahlil al-Hayya, was already in the Qatari capital.
The renewed talks are expected to focus on the conditions for a potential ceasefire agreement, with particular attention to the details of a possible hostage release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas is also seeking increased humanitarian aid for Gaza and assurances for a lasting end to the conflict.
The talks come as hospital officials in Gaza said that 38 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes across the enclave.
Some 20 people were killed and 25 wounded after Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza city, according to Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa Hospital that services the area.
In southern Gaza, 18 Palestinians were killed by strikes in Muwasi, an area on Gaza's Mediterranean where many displaced people live in tents, officials at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis said.
Five of the dead belonged to the same family, according to the hospital.
Read more:
Controversial Gaza aid group vows to keep operating despite mass killings of Palestinians
Proposal includes 60-day truce - sources
Hamas has not publicly detailed its responses to the US-sponsored proposal, which was transmitted by mediators from Qatar and Egypt.
Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions said the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release ten living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.
However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel's withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.
Since the Hamas attack sparked a massive Israeli offensive with the aim of destroying the group, mediators have brokered two temporary halts in fighting, during which hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said yesterday that top diplomat Badr Abdelatty held a phone call with Washington's main representative in the truce talks, Steve Witkoff, to discuss "preparations for holding indirect meetings between the two parties concerned to reach an agreement".
But recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel's rejection of Hamas's demand for a lasting ceasefire.
The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in Gaza.
Palestinian armed group in Gaza admits to coordination with Israel
The head of a Palestinian armed group opposed to Hamas and accused of aid looting in Gaza confirmed it was coordinating with the Israeli military in an interview with public radio.
Yasser Abu Shabab said his group, known as the Popular Forces, was able to move freely in zones under Israeli military control and communicated their operations beforehand.
"We keep them informed, but we carry out the military actions on our own," he said in an interview with Makan, Israel's Arabic-language public radio broadcaster.
Mr Shabab also said his group had received "logistical and financial support from several parties", without mentioning Israel directly.
"There are things we can't talk about publicly," he added.
Last month, the Israeli authorities admitted to providing support to armed Palestinian groups opposed to Hamas in Gaza, without naming them, though local media reports identified the group in question as Abu Shabab's.
The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank described Abu Shabab as the head of a criminal gang in the Rafah region of southern Gaza that has been suspected of looting aid trucks.
Abu Shabab did not address the accusation in his radio interview, and stressed that the only goal of his militia was to defeat Hamas and to provide an alternative for governance in the Gaza Strip.
People in Gaza living in 'cycle of trauma', says student
Additional reporting PA
