A senior Hamas official has said that the group is still preparing its response to an Israeli proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.
"The movement's response is still in preparation, and we affirm that there is no room for any partial deal," Mahmoud Mardawi said, insisting that the group's "weapons will not be subject to any negotiations".
Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his negotiating team to continue the steps to advance the release of hostages still being held in Gaza.
"The prime minister issued directives for the continuation of the steps to advance the release of our hostages," his office said in a statement, adding that he held an assessment on the issue with the negotiating team and the heads of the security establishment.
It comes as hundreds of Palestinians staged a protest against Gaza's Hamas rulers in the territory's northern city of Beit Lahia, calling for an end to the war with Israel, witnesses said.
Protestors directly targeted the Palestinian Islamist group with chants such as "Hamas out, out" or "Hamas is all rubbish", said Abu Ismail Washah, a 45-year-old resident of northern Gaza.
He said that he joined the protest because he supports "any movement that calls for ending the war, because right now we are under siege, facing destruction and constant suffering."
Hamas took full control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, after a brief but violent conflict with rival Palestinian group Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority.
Levels of discontent towards Hamas are difficult to gauge, in part because of its intolerance for public expressions of dissent.
Some held posters reading "Hamas does not represent me."
Mohammed Al-Masri, 45, resident of northern Gaza, told AFP that protestors cheered for Egypt, a mediator in talks between Hamas and Israel, with some waving Egyptian flags.
Hassan Abu Jarad called for the liberation of hostages held in Gaza, one of Israel's main war objectives.
"We appeal to the wise among our people to release the kidnapped Israelis immediately", Abu Jarad told AFP.
"We call on all the Israeli people to renounce their hatred for us and we tell you that we do not hate you.. We are a people who love life and peace", he added.
It is at least the third demonstration inside Gaza calling for an end to the war in the past month.
Both previous demonstrations also took place in the north of Gaza, which has been nearly entirely destroyed by Israeli air strikes.
Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Israeli troops will remain in the buffer zones they have created in Gaza even after any settlement to end the war.
Since resuming military operations last month, Israeli forces have carved out a broad "security zone" extending deep into Gaza and squeezing more than two million Palestinians into ever smaller areas in the south and along the coastline.
"Unlike in the past, the IDF is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized," Mr Katz said in a statement following a meeting with military commanders.
"The IDF will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and the communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza - as in Lebanon and Syria."
In a summary of its operations over the past month, the Israeli military said it now controls 30% of the Palestinian territory.
In southern Gaza alone, Israeli forces have seized the border city of Rafah and pushed inland up to the so-called "Morag corridor" that runs from the eastern edge of Gaza to the Mediterranean Sea, between Rafah and the city of Khan Younis.
It already held a wide corridor across the central Netzarim area and has extended a buffer zone all around the frontier hundreds of metres inland, including the Shejaia area just to the east of Gaza City in the north.
Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Hamas fighters, including many senior commanders of the Palestinian militant group, since 18 March but the operation has alarmed the United Nations and European countries.
Read more: What we know about Israel's latest Gaza ceasefire proposal
More than 400,000 Palestinians have been displaced since hostilities resumed on 18 March after two months of relative calm, according to UN humanitarian agency OCHA, and Israeli airstrikes and bombardments have killed at least 1,630 people.
Medical charity MSF said Gaza had become a "mass grave" with humanitarian groups struggling to provide aid.
"We are witnessing in real time the destruction and forced displacement of the entire population in Gaza," Amande Bazerolle, MSF's emergency coordinator in Gaza, said in a statement.
Mr Katz said Israel, which has blocked the delivery of relief supplies into the territory since early March, was creating infrastructure to allow distribution through civilian companies at a later date, but the blockade on aid would remain in place.
He said Israel would pursue a plan to allow Gazans who wished to leave the enclave to do so, although it remains unclear which countries would be willing to accept large numbers of Palestinians.
The comments from Mr Katz, repeating Israel's demand on Hamas to disarm, underscore how far away the two sides remain from any ceasefire agreement, despite efforts by Egyptian mediators to revive efforts to reach a deal.
Hamas has repeatedly described calls to disarm as a red line it will not cross, and has said Israeli troops must withdraw from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.
"Any truce lacking real guarantees for halting the war, achieving full withdrawal, lifting the blockade, and beginning reconstruction will be a political trap," Hamas said in a statement.
Two Israeli officials said this week there had been no progress in the talks despite media reports of a possible truce to allow the exchange of some of the 59 hostages still held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli officials have said the increased military pressure will force Hamas to release the hostages but the government has faced large demonstrations by Israeli protesters demanding a deal to stop the fighting and get them back.
Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to the October 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
The offensive has killed at least 51,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and devastated the coastal enclave, forcing most of the population to move multiple times and reducing broad areas to rubble.
Palestinian medical authorities said an airstrike killed 10 people, including Fatema Hassouna, a well-known writer and photographer who had documented the war. A strike on another house further north killed three, they said.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said Israel's suspension of the entry of fuel, medical, and food supplies had begun to obstruct the work of the few remaining working hospitals, with medical supplies drying up.
"Hundreds of patients and wounded individuals are deprived of essential medications, and their suffering is worsening due to the closure of border crossings," the ministry said.
