Egyptian sources say Gaza humanitarian ceasefire agreed, Israel denies

Israel said on Monday no ceasefire had been implemented in southern Gaza even though security sources in Egypt said a deal had been reached to allow aid to be brought in.

According to Reuters, two Egyptian security sources said Israel had agreed to a four-hour ceasefire. The Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing was expected to reopen to allow foreign passport holders to leave, they said.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement: "There is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out."

The situation at the Rafah crossing remained unclear.

The Israeli military and the US embassy in Israel had no comment, while officials from Hamas, which has fired rockets at Israel since its assault on civilians there just over a week ago, did not confirm any ceasefire.

Diplomatic efforts have been intensifying to get aid into Gaza, which has been under intense Israeli bombing since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants that killed 1,300 people.

Israel has also imposed a strict blockade and is preparing a ground invasion to destroy Hamas.

Authorities in Gaza said at least 2,750 people had so far been killed by the Israeli strikes and nearly 10,000 wounded. Another 1,000 people were missing and believed to be under rubble.

Hundreds of tonnes of aid from several countries have been held up in Egypt for days pending a deal for its safe delivery to Gaza and the evacuation of some foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing.