Hamas decided not to respond or engage with Israel's counter-proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, an official told Reuters on Wednesday, affirming it is committed to the mediators' plan instead. Israel said on March 29 it conveyed to the mediators a counter-proposal in full coordination with the U.

The second was Israel’s history of decision-making, particularly when it comes to Palestinians: Phased deals don’t usually work. Case in point is the phased, conditional Oslo peace process during the 1990s that Palestinians saw as a path to an eventual Palestinian state and a permanent end to the conflict, neither of which materialized.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military is “switching gears” in Gaza, dividing and seizing more parts of the strip, a move experts say could mean Israel establishing deeper, more long-term control over the territory.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel is establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas, suggesting it would cut off the southern city of Rafah, which Israel has ordered evacuated, from the rest of the Palestinian territory.

At least 19 people are reported killed in Jabalia as Israel's PM says it is expanding ground operations to pressure Hamas.

Israel ended a ceasefire in March and has imposed a monthlong halt on all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies

Israel plans to establish another security corridor that divides the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday. "We are conquering the Morag corridor," he said in a video address.

Israel announced a major expansion of military operations in Gaza on Wednesday, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to its security zones, accompanied by a large-scale evacuation of the population.