Hamas said Saturday it is ready for an agreement for the release at once of all hostages still held in Gaza and a five-year truce with Israel, whose new strikes on the Palestinian territory have killed at least 17 people in the morning, according to the emergency services.

A delegation from the Palestinian Islamist movement is set to meet Egyptian mediators in Cairo during the day in search of a resolution to the 18-month conflict in the Gaza Strip, triggered by Hamas' attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Hamas “is ready for a prisoner exchange (Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, ed.) in a single operation and for a five-year truce,” an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The movement had rejected on April 17 an Israeli proposal that included a 45-day truce in exchange for the return of ten living hostages, captives since Oct. 7.

It demands a “comprehensive” agreement including a cessation of hostilities, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, reaffirmed one of its leaders, Taher al-Nounou, to AFP on Saturday.

Israel - which has not immediately responded to the call for a long truce - demands in return the release of all hostages and the disarmament of Hamas, which it has vowed to destroy. The Palestinian movement, on its part, excludes surrendering its weapons.

- Many missing under the rubble -

According to the Palestinian Civil Defense, at least 17 people were killed in the morning in the Gaza Strip, where Israel had resumed its military offensive since March 18 after a two-month truce, saying it wanted to force Hamas to release the hostages.

Ten of them died in the bombing of a house in Gaza City (north), which also left many people under the rubble, a Civil Defense spokesperson in Gaza, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP.

AFP images on site showed Palestinians cutting, by torchlight, the metal structure of the building with a circular saw and removing at least one body from the debris.

A young girl, her forehead bandaged, stood there visibly dazed.

“Everyone was sleeping with their children, and without any warning, we saw the house collapse on us. There were screams, and those who could still breathe were calling for help, but no one came,” a family member, Oum Walid al-Khour, testified.

“Most of the victims were children, suffocated because of the bombing,” she added.

The Israeli army has not commented at this stage.

Rescue workers are hindered in their searches by the “lack of adequate equipment and machinery,” stressed Bassal. The Israeli army had destroyed 40 engineer vehicles last week, used, according to them, by Hamas for “terrorist” activities.

- “The blockade must end” -

Israel has also blocked any entry of humanitarian aid into the devastated Palestinian territory since March 2, whose 2.4 million inhabitants, mostly displaced at least once by the conflict, are now exposed to famine and severe health shortages, according to the United Nations.

The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, denounced Friday “a man-made famine driven by political reasons.”

This blockade “must end (...) lives depend on it,” warned the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to AFP's tally based on official data.

Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 58 are still held in Gaza, 34 of whom have died, according to the Israeli army.

According to figures released Friday by the Hamas health ministry, at least 2,062 Palestinians have been killed since the resumption of the Israeli offensive on March 18, bringing the death toll in Gaza since the start of the war to 51,439.