Egypt, one of the mediators in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, has received positive indications from Israel over a new ceasefire proposal that would include a transitional phase, security sources have said.
The proposal suggests Hamas release five Israeli hostages each week, sources said.
A security delegation from Egypt has left for Qatar for talks, which will include increasing aid to the enclave and releasing remaining hostages, state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said.
Violence has escalated in Gaza since a January truce broke down on 18 March after two months of relative calm.
Asked about the latest proposal, a Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts said "there are some offers that look better than the previous ones".
When asked if he expects an announcement on a breakthrough today, he replied: "Maybe not yet".
There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on the proposal, but a spokesperson said there is currently no Israeli delegation in Doha.
Israel and Hamas accused each other of breaching the truce, which had offered respite from war for the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas, which still holds 59 of more than 250 hostages, accuses Israel of jeopardising efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting.
Israel says it would be willing to extend the ceasefire temporarily if Hamas releases more hostages, but without moving yet to a second phase during which it would negotiate a permanent end to the war.
Israel also said it won't accept Hamas' presence in the enclave and added it wanted to extend the ceasefire's temporary first phase, a proposal backed by US envoy Steve Witkoff.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, Gaza health officials say.
Militants warn against helping Israel with Gaza protests
Palestinian militant groups have threatened punishment for "collaborators" furthering Israeli goals after the first substantial protests against the war in Gaza and Hamas' rule.
More demonstrations, which have been applauded by Israel's government, are planned for later today.
A statement by the "Factions of the Resistance", an umbrella group including Hamas, threatened punishment for leaders of the "suspicious movement", which Palestinians took to mean the street marches.
"They persist in blaming the resistance and absolving the occupation, ignoring that the Zionist extermination machine operates nonstop," it said.
"Therefore, these suspicious individuals are as responsible as the occupation for the bloodshed of our people and will be treated accordingly."
Hamas officials have said people have the right to protest but rallies should not be exploited for political ends or to exempt Israel from blame for decades of occupation, conflict and displacement in Palestinian territories.
Some protesters reached by Reuters said they took to the streets to voice rejection of continued war, adding that they were exhausted and lacked basics like food and water.
"We are not against the resistance. We are against war. Enough wars, we are tired," a resident of Gaza City's Shejaia neighbourhood, which saw protests yesterday, told Reuters.
"You can't call people collaborators for speaking up against wars, for wanting to live without bombardment and hunger," he added via a chat app.
Videos yesterday, whose authenticity Reuters could not verify, showed protests in Shejaia in the north where the rallies began, but also in the central Gaza areas of Deir Al-Balah, indicating the protests were spreading.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has promised Hamas' total elimination, said the rallies showed its decision to renew the military offensive in Gaza after a ceasefire was working.
Hamas police, the group's enforcers, are again off the streets.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz urged Gaza residents to keep expressing their discontent.
"Learn from the residents of Beit Lahia," he wrote on X, referring to the first protest. "Just as they did, demand the removal of Hamas from Gaza and the immediate release of all Israeli hostages - this is the only way to stop the war."
A Palestinian official with a Hamas-allied militant group said protests were allowed - but not cooperation with Israel.
"Those suspicious figures try to exploit legitimate protests to demand an end to the resistance, which is the same goal as Israel's," he told Reuters via a chat app.
"We don't threaten our people, we adore their sacrifices, but there are some suspicious figures who cooperate with the goals of the occupation, they want to exempt the occupation of responsibility and disgrace the resistance."
Hamas spokesperson killed
Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua was killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, Hamas-affiliated media said, the latest group figure to be killed since Israel resumed its operations in the enclave.
Mr Qanoua was killed when his tent was targeted in Jabalia, the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television said.
The same strike wounded several people, while separate attacks killed at least six in Gaza City and one in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, medical sources said.
The Israeli military later confirmed in a statement that it killed Mr Qanoua, saying that "he served as one of Hamas' key inciters."
Earlier this week, Israel killed Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas' political office, and Salah al-Bardaweel, another senior leader.
Both were part of the 20-member Hamas decision-making body, the political office, 11 of whom have been killed since the start of the war in late 2023, according to Hamas sources.
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Palestinian health authorities said that at least 30 people have been killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza today.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli campaign in Gaza, Hamas-run health ministry officials say.
The conflict was launched after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
At least 855 people, over half of them children and women, have been killed since Israel resumed major military strikes in Gaza on 18 March, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Much of the narrow coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tents or bombed-out buildings.
