"We are committed to the agreement, but it must be held," an IDF spokesperson told Newsweek amid operations against Hamas and Hezbollah.

Yazid Abu Jarad and his team carve letters in the sand using tape measures, drawing a crowd, including children scarred by the relentless Israeli attacks, which have continued despite last month’s ceasefire with Hamas brokered by the United States and mediators.

Hamas has passed along messages to the US through Arab mediators that it is prepared to end the Gaza ceasefire over what it says are Israeli violations, an Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel. Israel says that its latest round of deadly airstrikes in Gaza came in response to gunmen opening fire on Israeli troops in southern Gaza earlier today.

Even after the ceasefire agreement last month, the healthcare system in Gaza has remained in crisis under Israel’s blockade, with around only 50 percent of hospitals partially functional, chronic shortages of medicines and equipment, and 229 essential drugs completely unavailable, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The Israel Defense Forces say that they have found one of the most elaborate underground tunnel systems ever built by Hamas, stretching for kilometres beneath densely populated neighbourhoods. This multi-tiered facility has some 80 rooms,

Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Friday that its medical teams in Gaza had treated Palestinian women and children this week for injuries from Israeli airstrikes and gunfire, almost six weeks into a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Several groups - some of them backed by Israel - are ranged against Hamas in Gaza, with complex and overlapping ties.