Hamas says it will not free any more hostages until Israel ends its war in Palestine ahead of ceasefire talks in Cairo

Hamas has threatened to not release any more hostages unless Israel agrees to end its war in the Palestinian territories.

The warning came as the terror group's chief landed in Cairo for talks over a ceasefire.

Ismail Haniyeh flew into Egypt from his home in Qatar – prompting hopes that a new wave of releases could be imminent.

The militant leader typically wades publicly into diplomacy when progress seems likely. But US President Joe Biden warned last night that he did not expect a deal to be struck soon given the great divide between Israel and Hamas.

Israel has insisted all remaining women and infirm men must be released and accepts it may have to release Palestinians convicted of serious offences in return.

But Hamas says it will only discuss a permanent ceasefire in exchange for hostages, rather than a temporary halt to hostilities, which Tel Aviv will not agree to.

A Palestinian official said: 'Hamas's stance remains, they don't have a desire for humanitarian pauses. Hamas wants a complete end to the Israeli war on Gaza.'

Responding to the claims, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said: 'We won't stop fighting until we've achieved all the objectives we've set ourselves – the elimination of Hamas, the release of our hostages and the end of the threat from Gaza.'

Negotiations are also complicated as another Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, has some of the 129 hostages in Gaza. It said its leader would also visit Egypt to try to bring a possible end to the war. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the world must pressure Hamas, not just Israel, after wide global criticism of Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

'There seems to be silence on what Hamas could do, should do, must do if we want to end the suffering of innocent men, women and children,' he said. 'It would be good if the world could unite around that proposition as well.'

Mr Blinken also said he was hoping for a positive outcome on a second UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.

Last night, the Security Council postponed the vote in New York calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as diplomats struggle to agree on the language of the draft resolution. Members have been wrangling over the wording since the vote was first scheduled for Monday.

The latest version stops short of using the word 'ceasefire' and focuses instead on humanitarian access into Gaza.

Mr Blinken indicated that the humanitarian issue was the sticking point, with Israel insisting on full control of supplies that enter the blockaded Palestinian territory. 'The purpose of the resolution as stated by the countries that put it forward is to facilitate and expand humanitarian assistance that's getting into Gaza, and we fully support that,' he said. 'We've been working on this intensely. I hope we can get to a good place.'

It came as fierce fighting continued to rage in northern Gaza, even though Israel had insisted it had largely subdued Hamas resistance there last month. The Palestinian Red Crescent said the Israel Defence Forces had besieged its ambulance depot in Jabalia, a northern settlement that has been embattled for weeks. There are 127 people in the facility including workers and the wounded.

In the south, where most Palestinian civilians are sheltering after fleeing other areas, there has been intense fighting around the centre of Khan Younis, which Israeli soldiers have partly stormed.