Gaza ceasefire talks collapsed: Palestinian negotiator

Cairo, Aug 20: A temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has "collapsed" after the 24-hour respite ended Tuesday midnight but no truce-extension agreement could be reached and Israel and Hamas renewed their hostilities, a Palestinian official said.

"The ceasefire has collapsed and Israel is responsible," Xinhua quoted Azzam al-Ahmed, head of a joint-Palestinian delegation in Cairo attending in indirect negotiations with Israel as saying.

"We are leaving tomorrow, but we have not pulled out of negotiations," he said, adding the Palestinian team was waiting for the Israelis to respond to their truce proposal.

"We will not come back (to Cairo) until the Israel responds," he said.

Ahmed, an aide of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, heads the delegation that includes senior Hamas officials.

On Tuesday night and in renewed Israeli air strikes against the Gaza city, three Palestinians were killed and 40 wounded, shortly before an end of a 24-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, Gaza health ministry spokesperson, told reporters that three Palestinians were killed, including a child and a woman and around 40 wounded in an air strike on al-Dalou family house in northwest Gaza city.

Earlier Tuesday, Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said that Hamas wasn't responsible for the four rockets were fired earlier on Tuesday afternoon from Gaza into Israel.

Izzat al-Resheq, a senior Hamas leader and member of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo for the ceasefire talks said in a press statement that he ruled out the possibility of reaching an agreement Tuesday.

Israel launched a ground and air offensive on the Gaza Strip to rein on Gaza militants and stop rockets firing into Israel. Around 2,018 Palestinians and 68 Israelis were killed and more than 10,000 wounded so far.