Israel is reviewing Hamas's latest response to a ceasefire proposal for Gaza, which an Israeli source described as "workable" after months of stalled negotiations.
The reply, submitted to mediators in Doha on Thursday, reportedly includes amendments on aid entry, Israeli troop withdrawals, and guarantees for a permanent truce.
Amid the negotiations, deadly Israeli air strikes have continued. At least 23 Palestinians were killed in Gaza since dawn on Thursday, according to medical staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs and Al-Awda hospitals.
In the previous 24 hours, 77 others were killed, including 25 civilians seeking aid. Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 59,219 people and wounded 143,045 according to the Gaza health ministry.
Also on Thursday, nine Israeli soldiers were injured in a ramming attack at a bus stop near Netanya in central Israel, prompting an extensive manhunt for the driver, who fled the scene, Israeli police said.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels.
Images and videos emerging from the enclave show emaciated children and elderly civilians pleading for food and medicine. The World Health Organisation’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned: "I don’t know what else to call it other than a mass famine, and it’s man-made."
A coalition of 109 aid agencies and the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisations Network issued urgent appeals to end the "genocide and starvation" and demanded unrestricted entry of aid into Gaza.
They warned that famine is spreading rapidly, with women and children expected to be the first to die in large numbers.