Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had ordered immediate negotiations aimed at freeing all the remaining hostages in Gaza, as Israeli troops hammered the territory's largest city ahead of a major planned offensive.
The call for renewed talks came a day after the defence ministry approved a plan authorising the call-up of roughly 60,000 reservists to help capture Gaza City.
"I have come to approve the IDF's (military's) plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas," the prime minister said in a video statement filmed during a visit to the Gaza division's headquarters in Israel.
"At the same time, I have instructed to immediately begin negotiations for the release of all our hostages and the end of the war under conditions acceptable to Israel."
"These two matters - defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages - go hand in hand," Mr Netanyahu said, without providing details about what the next stage of talks would entail.
Meditators have been waiting for days for an official Israeli response to their latest ceasefire proposal, which Hamas accepted earlier this week.
Palestinian sources have said the new deal involves staggered hostage releases, while Israel has insisted that any deal see all the captives freed at once.
Israel's plans to expand the fighting and seize Gaza City have sparked international outcry as well as domestic opposition, with the Red Cross joining the condemnation, calling the moves "intolerable".
Ahead of the offensive, the Israeli military said the call-up of the reservists would begin in early September, adding the second phase of operation "Gideon's Chariots" had begun.
Earlier, Gaza City residents described relentless bombardments overnight.
"The house shakes with us all night long - the sound of explosions, artillery, warplanes, ambulances, and cries for help is killing us," Ahmad al-Shanti told AFP.
'We are advancing'
A group of AFP journalists near Israel's border with Gaza witnessed an air strike by a fighter jet on the northern outskirts of Gaza City this afternoon, with a massive explosion followed by a large plume of smoke rising into the sky.
Several sporadic explosions were heard afterward but it was not possible to determine their origin.
Strikes increased in pace later in the afternoon with several large explosions heard near the border.
"We are advancing with the efforts toward operations in Gaza City," military chief Eyal Zamir told troops.
"We already have troops operating on the outskirts of the city, and more forces will join them later on."
The UN humanitarian agency has warned that the Israeli plan to expand military operations in Gaza City would have "a horrific humanitarian impact" on an already exhausted population.
The Israeli military said this week it had also begun informing medical personnel and aid groups in northern Gaza to start making evacuation plans and transferring their equipment to the south.
The Gaza health ministry, however, rejected that call, saying it would not agree to "any step that would undermine what remains of the health system after the systematic destruction carried out by the occupation authorities".
Awaiting a response
Israel and Hamas have held indirect negotiations throughout the nearly two-year conflict, paving the way for a pair of short ceasefires during which Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Of the 251 hostages seized during the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel that triggered the war, 49 are still in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Sources from Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad told AFP that the latest ceasefire proposal calls for the release of ten hostages and 18 bodies from Gaza.
The remaining hostages would be released in a second phase alongside talks for a wider settlement.
Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 48 people were killed on Thursday by Israeli attacks in various areas across the Palestinian territory, including several casualties in an air strike in Gaza City.
The 7 October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's offensive has killed over 62,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the United Nations considers reliable.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
UN chief calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City.
"It is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza," that was necessary "to avoid the death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause," Mr Guterres said in Japan where he is attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
Israel, which has called up tens of thousands of army reservists, is pressing ahead with its plan to seize Gaza's biggest urban centre despite international criticism of an operation likely to force the displacement of many more Palestinians. Israel currently holds about 75% of Gaza.
Israel's occupation of Gaza, and any expansion of its offensives, is illegal under international law.
An Israeli military spokesman said troops were already operating on the outskirts of Gaza City, and Hamas was now a "battered and bruised" guerrilla force.
The humanitarian response advisor for Oxfam in Gaza City has described the situation there as "extremely tense".
Chris McIntosh said there is still a great deal of ambiguity and uncertainty about what exactly is going to happen in the city.
"We're looking at being ready for mass displacement, which is, from a humanitarian perspective, an absolute catastrophe," he said.
"This is a population that has been battered many, many different ways, continues to be battered and psychologically tortured with these various announcements that are happening."
He said people's physical condition in Gaza "matches their mental condition - absolute exhaustion, malnourishment...starvation".
Mr McIntosh said that due to restricted zones imposed by Israeli forces, there is an area that amounts to around 30% of the territory that "people can actually go into".
"So on top of everything else, there people are going to be expected to squeeze into tighter spaces, and fight for resources, and this is absolutely unacceptable," he said.
Israeli attacks have killed at least 60,000 people in Gaza since October 2023, according to territory's health ministry.
The current stage of the war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, including children, into Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
