Egypt has warned Israel that any attempt to seize security control of the strip of land that separates Gaza and Egypt will result in a “serious threat” to relations between the neighboring states.

The Philadelphi corridor is a 14-kilometer (nine-mile) -long slither of land that separates Egypt from Gaza.

The Israeli military said in a statement Tuesday that its forces have encircled the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The territory’s second largest city has seen heavy fighting in recent days, with dozens of Palestinians killed and wounded.

Britain on Tuesday vowed to keep hampering the ability of Yemen's Houthis to attack Red Sea shipping, following the latest joint-US strikes on the Iran-backed rebels.

"What we have done again is send the clearest possible message that we will continue to degrade their ability to carry out these attacks while sending the clearest possible message that we back our words and our warnings with action," foreign minister David Cameron told broadcasters.

Israel has proposed to Hamas via Qatari and Egyptian mediators a pause in fighting of up to two months as part of a deal to free all the hostages being held in Gaza, the U.S. news site Axios reported.

The report, citing unnamed Israeli officials, said the deal would take place in multiple stages, the first of which would see the release of women, men over 60 and those in critical medical condition.

Twenty-four soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip in the deadliest attack on Israel's forces since the Oct. 7 Hamas raid, the military said Tuesday, a major setback that could add to mounting calls for a cease-fire.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead until Israel crushes the ruling Hamas militant group and wins the freedom of over 100 hostages held captive in Gaza. But Israelis are increasingly divided on the question of whether it's possible to do either, and large numbers of Israeli casualties have pressured Israel's government to halt past military operations.

Iran is "very directly involved" in ship attacks that Yemen's Houthi rebels have carried out during Israel's war against Hamas, the U.S. Navy's top Mideast commander told The Associated Press on Monday.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the Navy's 5th Fleet, stopped short of saying Tehran directed individual attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

EU foreign ministers on Monday pressed Israel for an eventual two-state solution with the Palestinians after the war in Gaza, at meetings with the top diplomats from the two sides and key Arab states in Brussels.

The surprise Hamas attack on October 7 on Israel and the subsequent devastating military response from Israel has plunged the Middle East into fresh turmoil and sparked fears of a broader conflict.

On Monday, dozens of family members of the hostages stormed into a Finance Committee meeting in Israel's Parliament, yelling: “You won’t sit here while they are dying there!”

Families of the hostages, as well as other protesters, have set up a tent camp outside Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem and vowed to remain until a deal is reached to bring the rest of the hostages home. Other protests have called for new elections.

The Israeli army bombarded Khan Younis, the new epicentre of the war in Gaza, on Monday as the families of hostages held by Hamas urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal to secure their release.

Witnesses reported deadly strikes overnight in Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza, and fierce fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says the kingdom will not normalize relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza's reconstruction without a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan's remarks in an interview with CNN broadcast late Sunday were some of the most direct yet from Saudi officials. It puts them at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected Palestinian statehood and described plans for open-ended military control over Gaza.