Egyptian official says Gaza truce talks continuing

CAIRO (Reuters) - Talks between Israelis and Palestinians over a Gaza truce are continuing but the Egyptian mediators are still hopeful a deal can be reached later on Tuesday, an Egyptian official said.

Egypt is seeking to broker a truce after an informal ceasefire it negotiated in October collapsed.

The official said Egypt was "hopeful" of an agreement later on Tuesday, adding: "We are more hopeful today than yesterday."

"We are waiting for the Israeli response," he said.

The official's comments were echoed by other Egyptian sources, following a comment by a Hamas official that there had been a breakthrough. An Israeli official told CNN that the deal was not finalised.

An Egyptian security source close to the talks said: "Nothing has been finalised yet."

Another Egyptian official said he was surprised that Hamas official Ayman Taha had announced that a deal had been reached.

(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh, Seham Eloraby and Marwa Awad; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)