Amid growing tensions between Israel and Palestine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said that strikes targeting Gaza will continue “as long as necessary”. However, according to a report by Jewish news site Walla, Israeli officials have indicated that a ceasefire with Gaza could be coming. 

This comes as the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for an immediate end to the bloody violence on Sunday, warning that the fighting could plunge the region into an “uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis”.

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Senior Israeli officials told Walla that Israel would start moving toward a ceasefire as it has now achieved a number of military objectives against Hamas, as well as in response to the growing international pressure.

The ceasefire would be mediated by Egypt, Walla reported quoting the anonymous officials.

Israeli strikes killed 42 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the worst daily toll yet in almost a week of deadly clashes.

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The heaviest fire in years, sparked by unrest in Jerusalem, has killed 192 in the crowded coastal enclave of Gaza since Monday along with 10 in Israel, according to authorities on either side, reported AFP.

Israel on Sunday said its “continuing wave of strikes” had in the past 24 hours struck over 90 targets across Gaza, where the destruction of a building housing news media organisations sparked an international outcry.