Yahya Sinwar
Yahya SinwarReuters

A delegation from the Hamas terrorist organization led by its Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar left the coastal enclave for Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials on a truce with Israel, Hamas officials said.

Egypt has long been the broker between Israel and the Islamist terror group that runs Gaza.

In November it brokered a fragile truce agreement between Israel and Hamas.

That agreement has appeared to be under stress in recent days, with attacks on Israel by Gaza-based terrorists prompting Israeli retaliations.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that Sinwar "left Gaza for Cairo at the invitation of the head of the Egyptian intelligence service, Major General Abbas Kamal".

The visit was aimed at discussing "bilateral relations and ways to lessen the suffering of our people," he said in a statement.

A Hamas official said the truce agreement would be discussed.

Islamic Jihad, a second terror group which operates in the Strip, said its head will also attend the
meetings.

Israel carried out air strikes early Thursday morning on "a number of terror targets in a Hamas military compound in the northern Gaza Strip," a military statement said.

It said that they were in response to the launching of incendiary and explosive balloons from Gaza into Israel.