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Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Gaza City have intensified in recent days, following prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approving plans to expand the war there.

The Israeli government has not provided an exact timetable on when its forces would enter the area, but according to the civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal, air strikes on Gaza City have been increasing for the past three days.

Bassal said the residential neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Sabra have been hit ‘with very heavy airstrikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings’.

‘For the third consecutive day, the Israeli occupation is intensifying its bombardment,’ said the spokesman.

‘The Israeli occupation is using all types of weapons in that area — bombs, drones, and also highly explosive munitions that cause massive destruction to civilian homes,’ he added.

Bassal said that at least 24 people had been killed across Gaza on Tuesday, including several casualties caused by strikes on Gaza City.

‘The bombardment has been extremely intense for the past two days. With every strike, the ground shakes. There are martyrs under the rubble that no one can reach because the shelling hasn’t stopped,’ said Majed al-Hosary, a resident in Zeitoun.

Israel has faced mounting criticism over the 22-month-long war with Hamas, with United Nations-backed experts warning of widespread famine unfolding in besieged Gaza.

Netanyahu is under mounting pressure to secure the release of the remaining hostages, as well as over his plans to expand the war, which he has vowed to do with or without the backing of Israel’s allies.

Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,499 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, whose toll the United Nations considers reliable.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas delegation was due in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials on efforts by mediators to secure an elusive ceasefire in Gaza, two Palestinian sources said on Tuesday.

Together with Qatar and the United States, Egypt has been involved in mediation between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas that has failed to secure a breakthrough since a short-lived truce earlier this year.

Upon Egypt’s invitation, the Hamas delegation led by the group’s chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya ‘is expected to arrive in Cairo Tuesday or tomorrow morning’, the source said.

The source said the delegation was scheduled to meet Egyptian officials on Wednesday to ‘discuss the latest developments’ in ‘ceasefire negotiations and prisoner exchange’ that would include the release of hostages held in Gaza.

Another Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations confirmed the Cairo meeting was planned, and told AFP that ’mediators are working to formulate a new comprehensive ceasefire agreement proposal.’

Such a proposal could include ‘a 60-day truce followed by negotiations for a long-term ceasefire, and a deal for the exchange of all Israeli captives — both living and deceased — in one batch’, said the source.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Both Israel and Hamas have accused the other side of failing to compromise, and the source said that ‘so far, there is nothing new to be optimistic about, especially as the occupation Israel has repeatedly worked to obstruct any agreement.’