GAZA, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- A high-ranking Egyptian security intelligence delegation left Gaza late Wednesday after two days of talks with the Islamic Hamas movement and other factions, local media outlet "Abbas Kamel" reported.
The senior security delegation arrived in Gaza on Tuesday through the Erez Crossing for talks with Hamas and other factions over peace in the coastal enclave.
The Egyptian delegation left amid a new wave of escalating tension between Israel and Hamas-led militant groups in the Gaza Strip after unknown militants fired a rocket into southern Israel.
Eyewitnesses said dozens of foreign aid workers and employees who work for international aid organizations and agencies in Gaza left the coastal enclave earlier in the day for concerns over military escalation between Israel and Hamas.
"We feel sorry for calling off the visit of Abbas Kamel, chief of the Egyptian security intelligence, to both Gaza and Ramallah on Thursday," Musa Abu Marzooq, a Hamas politburo member, wrote on Twitter.
However, the Egyptian delegation declined to tell the press the reason of their sudden departure from Gaza.
Earlier in the day, Israeli war jets struck 20 military targets across the Gaza Strip in response to the rocket attack, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding three others.
