Hamas delegation expected in Cairo to respond to Israel’s latest truce and hostage release proposal

Israel reduced the initial number of hostages it wants released to 33. If Hamas agrees to attend, negotiations on a cease-fire could resume in Cairo this week.

Mughrabi CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli airstrikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed at least 25 Palestinians and wounded many others, medics said on Monday, as leaders of Hamas arrived in Cairo for a new round of talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

The militant group says it's examining the latest Israeli suggestions for a cease-fire in Gaza, six months into the conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah have killed at least 22 people, including six women and five children, according to Palestinian health officials. One of the children killed in the strikes overnight into Monday was just 5 days old. The strikes hit three family homes with those killed taken to Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital.

Israel stepped up airstrikes on Rafah overnight after saying it would evacuate civilians from the southern Gazan city and launch an all-out assault despite allies' warnings this could cause mass casualties.

Israeli negotiators, offering a hint of hope for negotiations over a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, have reduced the number of hostages they want Hamas to release during the first phase of a truce, three Israeli officials said Monday.

Mughrabi CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of Palestinians on Monday as Hamas leaders visited Cairo for a new round of truce talks, with more than half the dead in the southern Gaza city of Rafah,