Hamas’s leader has arrived in the Egyptian capital to hold talks on developments with the war in the Middle East.
Ismail Haniyeh is said to be meeting with officials in Cairo on Wednesday, a day after Hamas fired rockets that set off air raid sirens in central Israel.
Egypt and Qatar, where Haniyeh is believed to be based, helped mediate a week-long ceasefire in November which saw Hamas freeing at least 100 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Indirect talks have recently been relaunched, again mediated by Egypt and Qatar, aimed at instituting another ceasefire to free more hostages captured in the deadly October 7 attacks and more Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
But, despite a flurry of activity by high-level officials in recent days, the two sides appeared to be far from an agreement.
Hamas previously said no more hostages will be released until the war ends, and that it will only be for the return of large numbers of prisoners, including high-profile militants.
Israel has called on the rest of the world to blacklist Hamas as a terrorist organisation – several countries, including the UK, already categorise the group this way.
Nearly 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in the 10 weeks of Israeli bombardment since October 7.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israeli forces were entering Hamas' tunnel network in northern Gaza as part of a "final clearing" of militants from the region.
The densely built urban north, including Gaza City, has seen ferocious fighting, with Palestinian health officials reporting dozens of people killed in bombardment in recent days.
Mr Gallant said that in southern Gaza, operations will take "months," including the military's assault on Khan Younis, the enclave's second-largest city.
"We will not stop until we reach our goals," he added.
Israel's military says 131 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive.
It claims it has killed some 7,000 militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying it uses them as human shields when it fights in residential areas.
UN Security Council members are negotiating an Arab-sponsored resolution to halt the fighting in some way to allow for an increase in desperately needed humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza.
A vote on the resolution, first scheduled for Monday, was pushed back again until Wednesday as talks continued in the hopes of getting the US to abstain or vote "yes" after it vetoed an earlier ceasefire call.
France, the UK and Germany have joined global calls for a ceasefire over the weekend.
In Israel, protesters have called for negotiations with Hamas to facilitate the release of scores of hostages still held by the group.
Israel says it will keep fighting until it has removed Hamas from power, dismantled its armed wing and returned all the hostages.
