Hamas chief in Egypt for truce talks

GAZA STRIP, Dec 20 (AFP/Reuters): The leader of Hamas visited Egypt on Wednesday as hopes grew that Israel and the Palestinian militant group may be inching toward another truce and hostage release deal in the Gaza war.

The Qatar-based Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Cairo for discussions on the "aggression in the Gaza Strip and other matters", the group said in a statement.

He was due to meet Egypt's spy chief for talks on "stopping the aggression and the war to prepare an agreement for the release of prisoners", a source close to the group told AFP.

Haniyeh-who earlier met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian in Qatar-was heading a "high-level delegation" to Egypt, a frequent mediator between Israel and Palestinians, the source said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told hostage families late Tuesday that he had twice sent his spy chief to Europe in efforts to "free our hostages".

"It's our duty, I'm responsible for the release of all the hostages," the premier told the relatives of some of the 129 captives still believed to be held in Gaza. "Saving them is a supreme task.

"I have just sent the head of Mossad to Europe twice to promote a process to free our hostages. I will spare no effort on the subject, and our duty is to bring them all back."

US news site Axios reported Monday that Mossad chief David Barnea had met CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Europe.

Qatar, backed by Egypt and the United States, helped broker a week-long truce and hostage-prisoner swap in November in which 80 Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Axios also reported Tuesday that Israel had offered to pause the fighting in Gaza for at least one week in exchange for more than three dozen hostages held by Hamas.

Israel battles Hamas

on Gaza streets

Israeli troops and Hamas militants fought fierce gunbattles on the streets of Gaza's second-biggest city on Wednesday as the United Nations delayed a vote on a bid to boost aid deliveries to the Palestinian enclave facing a humanitarian disaster.

Israel's campaign to eradicate Hamas militants behind an Oct 7 massacre has left the coastal enclave in ruins, brought widespread hunger and homelessness, and killed nearly 20,000 Gazans, according to the Palestinian enclave's health ministry.

Under foreign pressure to avoid killing innocents, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will not stop until Iran-backed Hamas releases the remaining 129 hostages it is holding in Gaza and the Islamist group is obliterated.

A United Nations Security Council vote to set up aid deliveries was delayed by another day on Tuesday as talks continue to try and avoid a third US veto of action over the two-month long Israel-Hamas war.

The 15-member council was initially going to vote on a resolution - drafted by the United Arab Emirates - on Monday. But it has repeatedly been delayed as diplomats say the UAE and the US struggle to agree language citing a cessation of hostilities and a proposal to set up UN aid monitoring.

When asked if they were getting close to an agreement, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Tuesday: "We're trying, we really are."

The conflict has spread beyond Gaza, including into the Red Sea where Iran-aligned Houthi forces based in Yemen have been attacking commercial vessels with missiles and drones, prompting the creation of a multinational naval operation to protect trade routes.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said in Bahrain that joint naval patrols would be held in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which encompass a major East-West global shipping route.

Malaysia bans Israeli-flagged

ships in response to Gaza war

Malaysia banned on Wednesday Israeli-flagged cargo ships from docking at its ports in response to Israel's actions in Gaza, which it said ignores "basic humanitarian principles".

Ships on their way to Israel will also be barred from loading cargo at any port in the largely Muslim Southeast Asian nation with immediate effect, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in a statement.

Anwar singled out Israel's biggest shipping firm ZIM.

Malaysia's cabinet authorised ZIM to dock its vessels at Malaysian ports in 2002 but Wednesday's statement said that authorisation had been rescinded.

"The Malaysian government decided to block and disallow the Israeli-based shipping company ZIM from docking at any Malaysian port," Anwar said.