The war in Gaza may be on the cusp of a new phase after Israel approved plans over the weekend to intensify its operations. Which raises the question: After 19 months of bloodshed and destruction, why is there still no end in sight?

Israel and Hamas appear to only be growing further apart. Israel unleashed fierce strikes in March, shattering a truce that had freed hostages and sent in badly needed aid. Israel's new plans include seizing the strip, forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and asserting greater control over the distribution of aid in the territory, according to Israeli officials.

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 59 people, including women and children, hospital officials said Wednesday, as Israel prepares to ramp up its campaign against Hamas in a devastating war now entering its 20th month.

The strikes included one attack on Tuesday night on a school sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, which killed 27 people, officials from the Al-Aqsa Hospital said, including nine women and three children. It was the fifth time since the war began that the school in central Gaza has been struck.

Israel drew international condemnation over its plans for an expanded Gaza offensive, as the country's far-right finance minister called Tuesday for the Palestinian territory to be "destroyed".

The United States and Yemen's Houthis have agreed a ceasefire, mediators announced, saying the deal would ensure "freedom of navigation" in the Red Sea where the Iran-backed rebels have attacked shipping for months.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday teased that he will make a major announcement ahead of his trip next week to the Middle East, without revealing what it would be.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have agreed to halt attacks on shipping, in a surprise announcement at the White House.

Israel’s military said Tuesday it launched airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, fully disabling the country’s international airport in the capital, Sanaa, shortly after issuing a warning for people to evacuate the area of the airport.

It also said several power plants were struck in the area.

Mediator Qatar on Tuesday said it was still pursuing efforts for a Gaza war ceasefire, even after Israel approved expanded operations and Hamas said it wasn't interested in further talks.

"Our efforts remain ongoing despite the difficulty of the situation and the continuing catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip," foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told reporters at a regular briefing.

Israel's Cabinet voted Monday to seize the Gaza Strip for an unspecified amount of time in a move that could see Israel reestablish control over a territory it vacated two decades ago.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a decades-long occupation and then imposed a blockade on the territory along with Egypt.

Israeli military bulldozers have demolished most of a Palestinian Bedouin village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, taking out the hamlet's infrastructure and leaving residents wandering amid the rubble of their homes. The bulldozers rolled into Khalet Al-Dab in the morning, taking down most of the village's structures, said Basel Adra, a filmmaker, journalist and activist from the area.

Nine homes, five tents and five animal pens were demolished on Monday, said Mohammed Rabia, head of the village council in the area.