Global powers trying to navigate a way to end the Israel-Hamas war have so far come up short, but a US envoy was expected in Israel on Thursday to try to secure a truce deal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are both expected in Rio de Janeiro for the first high-level G20 meeting of the year -- though not China's Wang Yi.

The United Nations sounded the alarm over the humanitarian situation in the besieged territory, warning that food shortages could lead to an "explosion" of preventable child deaths.

With Gazans already facing dire humanitarian conditions, the United Nations chief was set to meet on Tuesday with key donors who paused funding after members of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency were accused of taking part in the October 7 attack that sparked the war.

Israeli air strikes and ground operations were focused Thursday on the Gazan city of Khan Yunis, where the UN said nine people were killed by tank shelling at one of its shelters the day before.

Israel kept up its heavy assault on the "encircled" Gazan city of Khan Yunis following an outpouring of grief over the army's deadliest single day since ground operations in the territory began.

Combat raged in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, against a backdrop of negotiations aimed at bringing about a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the absence of a long-term peace plan.

Israel has said its operations against Hamas in southern Gaza will soon enter a less intensive phase, after the militant group's health ministry reported the death toll in the territory had surpassed 24,000.

Israel bombarded the southern Gaza Strip overnight, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to travel to Egypt on Thursday for more talks aimed at containing Israel's war against Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to hold talks Wednesday with the head of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington hopes could govern Gaza after Israel's war with Hamas ends.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken was due in Israel on Monday for difficult talks on the war in Gaza as fears grow that the conflict could engulf the wider region.

A British-Palestinian doctor who worked in Gazan hospitals during the Israel-Hamas conflict hopes that testimony he has given to UK police will lead to prosecutions for war crimes.

Israel's defence minister has laid out for the first time preliminary plans for the post-war administration of Gaza, saying neither Israel nor Hamas will rule the Palestinian territory after hostilities there conclude.

Israel's diving federation, diving clubs in Eilat and dozens of volunteers have mobilised to offer evacuated Israelis courses in scuba diving and free diving -- where divers plunge deep underwater on a single breath.

The war in Gaza ground into the new year on Monday, with Hamas firing a barrage of rockets at Israel just as the clock struck midnight and two dozen people killed overnight in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory.

Seconds after ringing in the new year on a lively street in Tel Aviv, some young Israelis found themselves running for cover while others kept the party going with a shrug as missile defence systems intercepted a barrage of rockets overhead.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, the war has killed more than 18,700 people, mostly women and children.

Israeli troops battled Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday after expanding their offensive deeper into the besieged territory, with warnings that an "even more hellish scenario" was unfolding for trapped civilians.

The return to open warfare after a truce between Israel and Hamas expired has had ripple effects around a region on the cusp of a wider conflagration.

The lives of Gazans have been turned upside down since militant group Hamas, which rules the Palestinian territory, launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

By helping broker an Israel-Hamas deal to free hostages, US President Joe Biden has achieved a long-sought win in a war that has cost him politically.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day truce that would see the Palestinian group release dozens of hostages taken on October 7, both sides announced Wednesday.

On the eve of the march, President Emmanuel Macron condemned the "unbearable resurgence of unbridled anti-Semitism" in the country.

G7 foreign ministers sought Wednesday to hammer out a common line on the Israel-Hamas war while vowing there would be no let-up in their support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

According to media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), more than 30 journalists have been killed since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas

The once bustling streets of Jerusalem's Old City have fallen eerily quiet, with the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas keeping away tourists and their much-needed cash.

President Joe Biden, when responding to a heckler at a Minnesota campaign event Wednesday night, said he thinks there should be a humanitarian "pause" in the Israeli-Hamas war to get "prisoners" out of Gaza.

The United States said Wednesday that its first citizens were able to leave the war-hit Gaza Strip after weeks of diplomacy, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to return to Israel and Jordan.

Israel must protect innocent Gaza residents by distinguishing between Hamas militants and civilians, the White House warned Sunday, as world leaders stepped up calls for desperately needed humanitarian aid to reach the war-torn Palestinian territory.

The violence in the mostly Muslim region, which erupted amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, prompted Israel to call on Russia to protect its citizens.