Hamas decided not to respond or engage with Israel's counter-proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, an official told Reuters on Wednesday, affirming it is committed to the mediators' plan instead. Israel said on March 29 it conveyed to the mediators a counter-proposal in full coordination with the U.

The Israel Defense Forces said Friday morning that its ground troops had begun operating in the Shejaiya area of the northern Gaza Strip.

Sen. Bernie Sanders' bid to block U.S. military aid to Israel failed in the Senate on Thursday, with just 14 lawmakers voting with the Vermont Independent.

"Two days ago, we received a proposal from the mediators in Egypt and Qatar," said Hamas chief, Khalil al-Hayya.

The second was Israel’s history of decision-making, particularly when it comes to Palestinians: Phased deals don’t usually work. Case in point is the phased, conditional Oslo peace process during the 1990s that Palestinians saw as a path to an eventual Palestinian state and a permanent end to the conflict, neither of which materialized.

Israel says its war in Gaza is "expanding to crush and clean the area" of Hamas, but Palestinian civilians are once again being killed and displaced in huge numbers.

Israeli forces have launched a ground offensive in Gaza City, the military said Friday, expanding their operations as rescuers reported at least 30 killed across the Palestinian territory since dawn.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas,” the defense minister said, while officials at hospitals inside the Palestinian territory said that Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday had killed more than 40 people, nearly a dozen of them children.

Hamas has agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal it received two days ago from mediators Egypt and Qatar, the Palestinian militant group's chief said on Saturday.