NEW DELHI: Israel has launched fresh deadly strikes on the Gaza Strip while saying it was ready for new truce talks in war against terrorist organisation Hamas. Citing the Gaza Strip's civil defence agency, the news agency AFP reported two pre-dawn air strikes had killed 26 people, including 15 children, in Gaza City.

A civil defence agency spokesperson told AFP that one Israeli strike hit a family house, killing 16 people, in the Al-Daraj area, and another killed 10 people inside a mosque compound.

Fierce fighting was also seen in Jabalia and Rafah where the armed wings of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad said they had fired mortar barrages at Israeli troops.

International pressure for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has been mounting on Israel as the previous rounds of truce talks failed to produce any positive results. Earlier this week, the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor sought arrest warrants on war crimes charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders.

Also, Ireland, Norway and Spain said they would recognise a Palestinian state on May 28 and urged other European states to follow their lead. The three countries recognised a Palestinian state with its borders to be demarcated as they were prior to 1967, with Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and Palestine. 

However, they also recognised that those borders may change in any eventual talks to reach a final settlement.

Israel hit back at the arrest warrants, voicing "disgust" over the ICC request and labelling any recognition of Palestinian statehood a "reward for terrorism". 

Senior foreign ministry official Jacob Blitstein told the envoys of Ireland, Norway and Spain on Thursday that there will be "serious consequences" for their relations with Israel after they recognise the state of Palestine. 

Meanwhile, on Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will rule on a request by South Africa to order Israel to implement a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. South Africa has petitioned the ICJ for emergency measures to order Israel to cease its military operations in Gaza including in Rafah, where it is pressing an offensive.

The rulings of the ICJ, which judges on disputes between states, are binding, but it has no power to enforce them.

However, a ruling against Israel would increase international legal pressure.