Thousands of Palestinians were fleeing on foot Wednesday in a surge away from the fighting and intense bombardment in Gaza as Israel said it was tightening the "stranglehold" around Hamas.
But as people escaped south from Gaza City, many with nothing but the clothes they wore, details began to emerge of a potential three-day halt in fighting in negotiations to secure the release of 12 hostages.
Calls for a ceasefire to protect civilians have built over a month into the war sparked when Hamas attacked Israel and, according to Israeli officials, killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says more than 10,500 people have been killed in Gaza, many of them children, during Israel's retaliatory military campaign to destroy the Islamist group.
A source close to Hamas said talks were underway for the release of a dozen of the hostages, including six Americans, in return for a pause in hostilities that would also allow time to deliver humanitarian aid.
Earlier Wednesday a source briefed on the process told AFP that Qatar was mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the release of up to 15 hostages.
As the talks proceeded, the pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing south from northern Gaza accelerated as Israel's air and ground campaign intensified, according to UN observers.
About 15,000 people had fled on Tuesday, compared with 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, as another surge was underway on Wednesday.
"We've lost our homes, we've lost our children. Where is the global community? Where are our fellow Muslims? Look at us!" said Nouh Hammouda, who was among those fleeing.
"We left our homes due to the relentless bombardment. Where can we go now?" he said as people streamed southward on the road.
- 'Humanitarian pause' -
Israel has set an aim of destroying Hamas and said its ground forces were advancing in pursuit of the militants who have a deep network of tunnels and underground bases.
"(Israeli troops) are tightening the stranglehold around the city of Gaza," Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.
Israel has air-dropped leaflets and sent texts ordering civilians in northern Gaza to flee south, but potentially hundreds of thousands remained in the worst-hit areas.
Hamas accused the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) of "colluding" with Israel in the "forced displacement" of Gazans, after residents followed instructions to flee.
An UNRWA spokeswoman did not immediately respond when contacted by AFP about the Hamas accusation.
G7 foreign ministers said they supported "humanitarian pauses and corridors" in the Israel-Hamas war, but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there would be no fuel delivered to Gaza and no ceasefire with Hamas unless the hostages are freed.
Qatar is mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the potential release of 10-15 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a humanitarian pause in fighting, a source briefed on the talks told AFP.
Doha has been engaged in intense diplomacy to secure the release of those held by Hamas, negotiating the handover of four hostages -- two Israelis and two Americans -- in recent weeks.
As fighting intensifies in Gaza, families of people taken hostage by Hamas have been pushing on various fronts for help to bring their loved ones home.
"Every day is like eternity to me and I can't wait any longer," Doris Liber, whose 26-year-old son Guy Iluz was shot and taken hostage at a music festival, told reporters in Washington.
- 'Death and suffering' -
Military analysts warned of weeks of gruelling house-to-house fighting ahead in Gaza.
The operation is hugely complicated for Israel because of the hostages, including very young children and frail elderly people, who are believed to be held inside a vast tunnel network.
The Israeli army said it had uncovered around 130 tunnel entrances in Gaza. It also reported the deaths of two more soldiers, bringing to 33 the total number killed in the offensive.
Hamas released video footage of fierce streets battles between what it said was its armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, and Israeli forces in the northern and southern axis of Gaza City.
In densely packed Gaza -- where more than 1.5 million people have fled their homes in a desperate search for safety -- the suffering is immense.
The World Health Organization says an average of 160 children are killed every day in Gaza by the war.
Hamas said several cemeteries in Gaza had "no more space for burials", while the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said most of the territory's sewage pumping stations were shut.
Israel accuses Hamas of building military tunnels underneath hospitals, schools and mosques -- charges the militant group denies.
Israel has hammered Gaza with more than 12,000 air and artillery strikes and sent in ground forces that have effectively cut it in half.
An independent UN expert branded Israel's systematic bombardment of housing and civilian infrastructure in Gaza as well as Hamas's rocket attacks that hit Israeli dwellings as war crimes.
"Apartment buildings are not military objects. Hospitals and ambulances are not military objects. Refugee camps are not military objects," said Balakrishnan Rajagopal, noting 45 percent of Gaza housing has been damaged or destroyed.
- 'Premature' for Gaza scenarios -
The Israeli government said Wednesday it was "premature" to predict scenarios for Gaza after it ousts Hamas, but that it was already discussing the prospect with other countries.
"We're exploring several contingencies together with our international partners for what the 'day after' will look like," said government spokesman Eylon Levy.
But the "common denominator" is that Gaza will be "demilitarised" and "must never again" become a "terror nest", he said.
Netanyahu had said earlier this week that Israel would assume "overall security" of Gaza.
After G7 foreign ministers held talks in Japan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there should be "no reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends".
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and two years later imposed a crippling air, sea and land blockade, as Hamas took control of the Palestinian territory.
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