Truce bid stalls as Israel eyes Gaza Strip buffer zone

Israeli troops will remain in the buffer zones they have created in Gaza even after any settlement to end the war, as efforts to revive a ceasefire agreement faltered.

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 seised," Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday 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 per cent of the tiny 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.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Hamas fighters, including many senior commanders of the Palestinian militant group, since March 18 but the operation has alarmed the United Nations and European countries.

More than 400,000 Palestinians have been displaced since hostilities resumed on March 18 after two months of relative calm, according to UN humanitarian agency OCHA, and Israeli airstrikes and bombardments have killed at least 1630 people.

Medical charity MSF said Gaza had become a "mass grave" with humanitarian groups struggling to provide aid.

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 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.

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 1200 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.

On Wednesday, Palestinian medical authorities said Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 35 Palestinians. One airstrike killed 10 people, including Fatema Hassouna, a well-known writer and photographer who had documented the war.