American and Israeli negotiators are expected in Cairo over the weekend for a renewed push to reach a ceasefire-hostage deal in a war that reaches the half-year mark on Sunday.
The attempt comes after Israel made a rare admission of wrongdoing during its war against Hamas fighters in Gaza. The military said it was firing two officers for the killing of seven aid workers -- most of them Westerners -- in the territory where humanitarians say famine is imminent.
Israel's admission, however, did not quell calls for an independent probe. The killing of the workers from US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) on April 1 led to a tense phone call between United States President Joe Biden and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Biden urged an "immediate ceasefire" and for the first time hinted at conditioning American support for Israel on curtailing the killing of civilians and improving humanitarian conditions.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the territory by air, land and sea, killing at least 33,091 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Israel's army on Friday rejected accusations, made in an independent Israeli-Palestinian magazine +972, that it has used artificial intelligence to identify targets in Gaza.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the reports "deeply troubling."
Fears that the war could spread intensified after Iran promised to hit back for the killing of seven of its Revolutionary Guards in an air strike Monday on the consular annex of its embassy in Damascus.
Ahead of the weekend talks, Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urging them to secure commitments from Hamas to "agree to and abide by a deal," a senior administration official told AFP.
Stop-start talks have made no headway since a week-long truce in November saw the exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.
The White House confirmed negotiations would occur this weekend in Cairo, but would not comment on US media reports that CIA Director Bill Burns would attend along with Israeli spy chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.
Biden's Thursday call with Netanyahu included discussions on "empowering his negotiators" to reach a deal, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
The United States blames the lack of a deal on Hamas's refusal to release sick and other vulnerable hostages.
Biden is under pressure over the billions of dollars in US military aid to Israel which, so far, Washington has not leveraged despite increasingly critical words about Israel's conduct in the war.