Senior Hamas officials in Doha are reportedly inclined to support the deal on the table, but no response has been received from Hamas's military leadership in Gaza, N12 noted. Israel, the US, Qatar, and Egypt are still waiting for Hamas's response to the proposed hostage and ceasefire deal presented by mediators last week,

Talks for a two-month truce in Gaza appear to have stalled, with disagreements over aid distribution and unresolved questions about a permanent cessation of hostilities.

The expansion of the 21-month-long offensive into the densely populated area comes as Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with the UN warning that Israel’s assault on the territory and restriction of aid deliveries had left its entire 2.1mn population at risk of famine.

Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a Gazan militia operating in an area under Israeli military control, says in an interview with the UK’s Sunday Times that his group is not funded or armed by Israel, and insists that he is “just an ordinary Palestinian person who cares about his own people.”

Palestinian resistance group says global initiative reflects ‘global outrage at time when humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached unbearable levels'

One mediator described Israel’s new map as “a breakthrough,” though sources believe at least a few more days well be needed to reach a final agreement. Israel has made “significant progress” in the hostage-ceasefire negotiations,

Israel warned it would move the first time into a town in the heart of the Gaza Strip that it had earlier skirted for fear of harming hostages, as it accused Hamas of stalling at US-brokered ceasefire talks and the war’s toll on Palestinian civilians spiraled.