The Israeli military said Sunday it had begun “extensive” ground operations in northern and southern Gaza, stepping up a new campaign in the enclave where Palestinian health authorities said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 135 people overnight.
Israel made its announcement after sources on both sides said there had been no progress in a new round of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in Qatar.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the talks included discussions on a truce and hostage deal as well as a proposal to end the war in return for the exile of Hamas fighters and the demilitarization of the enclave - terms Hamas has previously rejected.
The statement was in line with previous declarations from Israel, but the timing, as negotiators meet, offered some prospect of flexibility in Israel's position. A senior Israeli official said there had been no progress in the talks so far.
Israel's military said it had conducted a preliminary wave of strikes on more than 670 Hamas targets in Gaza over the past week to support "Gideon's Chariots," its new ground operation aimed at achieving "operational control" in parts of the enclave. It said it killed dozens of Hamas fighters.
Gaza's Health Ministry said in the week to Sunday alone, at least 464 Palestinians were killed. The deaths of 135 or so Palestinians overnight are in addition to that figure.
"Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by (overnight) Israeli bombardment," Khalil Al-Deqran, Gaza health ministry spokesperson said.
The Israeli campaign has devastated Gaza, pushing nearly all its 2.3 million residents from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.
Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March to try to pressure Hamas into freeing its hostages and has approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid.
Asked about the Qatar talks, a Hamas official said: "Israel's position remains unchanged, they want to release the prisoners (hostages) without a commitment to end the war."
Hamas was still proposing releasing all Israeli hostages in return for an end to the war, the pull-out of Israeli troops, an end to a blockade on aid for Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners, he said.
Reports in Israeli and Arab media that Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar may have been killed could potentially complicate the Doha talks, which began on Saturday.
Gaza medics said contrary to earlier reports Zakaria Al-Sinwar, a history lecturer at a Gaza university and the brother of Hamas' current and former leaders, was alive but in critical condition.
