Militant group Hamas' chief negotiator held talks with Egyptian mediators over a potential ceasefire in the Gaza war on Wednesday while Israel struck the territory's main city prior to a planned takeover and again invited Palestinians to leave.

Israel is in discussions with South Sudan about the possibility of resettling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the war-torn East African country, part of a wider effort by Israel to facilitate mass emigration from the territory left in ruins by its 22-month offensive against Hamas.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has condemned Israel's plan to seize Gaza City as a "full-fledged war crime. " The move was "part of Israel's ongoing policy of genocide and forced displacement" and formed part of a "brutal practice of ethnic cleansing against our Palestinian people,