An Israeli strike early Thursday on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza killed more than 37 people, including at least 23 women and children, according to local health officials. The Israeli military said Hamas militants were operating from within the school.

The strike came after the military announced a new ground and air assault in several refugee camps in central Gaza, pursuing Hamas militants it says have regrouped there. It's the latest instance of troops sweeping back into sections of the Gaza Strip they have previously invaded, underscoring the resilience of the militant group despite Israel's nearly eight-month onslaught in the territory.

An independent group of experts has warned that it's possible that famine is underway in northern Gaza but that the war between Israel and Hamas and restrictions on humanitarian access have impeded the data collection to prove it.

"It is possible, if not likely," the group known as the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, or FEWS NET, said about famine in Gaza.

Thousands of mostly ultranationalist Israelis were expected to take part in an annual march through a dense Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday in an event that often sees racist chants and brawls.

Jerusalem, the epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has been mostly calm throughout the Israel-Hamas war, but the march could ignite widespread tensions, as it did three years ago, when it helped set off an 11-day war in Gaza.

Israel's military pounded central Gaza with heavy air strikes on Wednesday as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators planned to resume talks on a truce and hostage release deal.

Tensions were high in annexed east Jerusalem where thousands of police were deployed to guard Israel's annual "flag march" that has sparked clashes between Jews and Arabs in previous years.

An Israeli army raid in April set off a near three-day gunbattle with Palestinian militants. By the time it was over, homes had been blasted to rubble and many residents had fled.

The raid wasn't in Gaza, where Israel is at war with Hamas, but more than 100 kilometers away in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank — a territory that has been under Israeli military rule for over a half-century.

The Biden administration has launched an intense drive to persuade Hamas and Israel to accept a new cease-fire proposal in the nearly eight-month-old war in Gaza while it also presses Arab nations to get the militant group to go along with the terms.

It comes as President Joe Biden suggested in a Time magazine interview published Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be prolonging the war against Hamas to ensure his political survival. Biden, who gave that interview a week ago, seemed to dial back his criticism in a brief exchange with reporters following an immigration speech at the White House.

Israel's announcement that four more hostages died in Hamas captivity, including three men in their 80s, stoked fears that time is running out for captives in Gaza who are still alive.

It set off protests across Israel calling for an immediate cease-fire deal that would secure the release of the dozens of remaining captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Syria's foreign minister said Tuesday that any dialogue between Syria and Turkey should follow Ankara's announcement that it will withdraw its troops from all Syrian territories it controls.

Faisal Mekdad's comments during a joint news conference with Iran's acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, came after Turkey threatened in recent days to act against Kurdish-led authorities in Syria's northeast as they prepare to hold municipal elections next week.

Dozens of men have attacked two restaurants in Baghdad including a KFC, security officials said, as calls grow to boycott U.S. brands over Israel's war in Gaza.

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks targeting Western-linked brands in Iraq that started last week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu views a plan outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden for a truce in Gaza and hostage release deal as "partial", a government spokesman said Monday.

Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would eventually end the fighting, free all hostages held by Palestinian militants and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Gaza Strip without Hamas in power.