By Maayan Lubell, Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -Israel was checking on Monday whether Hamas's deputy military leader died in an air strike in Gaza, media said, as prospects faded of talks securing a ceasefire to coincide with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
If his death is confirmed, Marwan Issa would be the highest-ranking official from the Islamist militant movement killed by Israel in five months of war that have pulverised the enclave and killed thousands of Palestinians.
Israeli Army Radio said the Al-Nusseirat camp in central Gaza had been bombed on Saturday night following intelligence about the location of Issa, second-in-command of Hamas's military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.
The attack killed five people, the report said.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel was checking whether the fatalities included Issa.
A Palestinian source said the Israelis had hit a place where they thought Issa was hiding, but could give no details of his fate. Neither the Israeli military nor Hamas officials immediately commented on the media reports.
On Sunday, in a statement rounding up operations from the previous 24 hours, Israel said its forces had killed militants in central Gaza but did not mention the camp.
Issa, nicknamed the 'Shadow Man' for his ability to stay off Israel's radar screens, was one of three top Hamas leaders who planned the Oct. 7 attack and are believed to have been directing Hamas' military operations since then.
He was on Israel's "most wanted" list, together with Mohammed Deif, commander of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and Hamas's Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar.
Fighters from Hamas, which administers Gaza, killed 1,200 people on Oct. 7 in a rampage into southern Israel and took 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies. More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing war and nearly 73,000 injured, according to Gaza authorities, while infrastructure has been obliterated and hundreds of thousands are close to famine.
POSITIONS ON CEASEFIRE REMAIN FAR APART
Issa's death, if confirmed, could also complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages, although Israel says talks are continuing through Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
Hamas blames Israel for refusing to give guarantees to end the war and withdraw troops. Israel wants a temporary truce to allow an exchange of hostages, but has said it will not stop its war until it has defeated Hamas.
Negotiators had wanted a halt in hostilities for Ramadan, which began on Monday, and traditionally heralds a rise in tension in the occupied Palestinian territories.
But in the early hours, an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City killed 16 people and wounded several others, Palestinian health officials said.
The strike, around dawn in Zeitoun, one of Gaza City's oldest neighbourhoods, hit the house of the Abu Shammala family, killing those inside, according to medics. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
In central Gaza, the Israeli military said its forces had killed around 15 militants in close combat and air strikes. Commandos in Khan Younis, where much of Israel's military operation has been focused in recent weeks, targeted sites believed to be used by Hamas militants, the military said.
Elsewhere around the region, pro-Palestinian groups continued to make their presence felt. Lebanon's Hezbollah said it had launched several drones at an outpost in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Monday, while two other incidents were reported in Red Sea waters where Yemen's Houthis have been attacking ships.
UN CHIEF CALLS FOR TRUCE, HOSTAGE RELEASE AND AID
As Ramadan began, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres appealed for a truce in Gaza, the release of hostages and the removal of obstacles to life-saving aid.
The conflict has displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million people, with many cramped into makeshift tents with little in the way of food or basic medical supplies in the southern city of Rafah - which Israel says it plans to seize.
"International humanitarian law lies in tatters," he told reporters. "And a threatened Israeli assault on Rafah could plummet the people of Gaza into an even deeper circle of hell."
The United Nations estimates that about a quarter of the population are at risk of starvation, and the trickle of aid is barely scratching the surface of daily needs. Aid agencies are now focusing their efforts on delivering aid by sea and through air drops.
Jordanian state media said there had been seven humanitarian air drops on Monday, with Jordan, the U.S., Egypt, France and Belgium taking part. Morocco was also scheduled to join the effort, Israeli media reported.
The U.S. military said it had parachuted more than 27,600 meals and 25,900 bottles of water into northern Gaza.
A government source in Cyprus said a vessel carrying 200 tonnes of aid was scheduled to set sail on Monday, while the U.S. military said its vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, was also en route to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza by sea.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim welcomed the aid corridor but urged the United States to work to end the war.
"Ensuring all the needs of the population in the Gaza Strip are met is not a favour from anyone. It is a guaranteed right under international humanitarian law, even during times of war," Naim told Reuters.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, and Samia Nakhoul in Dubai; writing by Sharon Singleton; editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Kevin Liffey)
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