The Israeli defence minister says the military is leaving Gaza "smaller" and "more isolated" to press Hamas into releasing hostages.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said progress was being made regarding the return of the hostages being held in Gaza and that he was dealing with both Israel and Hamas, but he gave no other details about the talks.

"This week is Passover - the festival of freedom," Liri Albag, an Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza for 15 months by Hamas, told a crowd of thousands gathered in Tel Aviv last weekend. "But what kind of freedom is it when 59 people are still in Hamas hell?

Israel’s military has transformed every bit of Gazan territory within about half a mile of the Israeli border into a wasteland.

The UN's secretary-general says "aid has dried up [and] the floodgates of horror have re-opened" in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has blocked the entry of all goods and resumed the war against Hamas. "Gaza is a killing field, and civilians are in an endless death loop," António Guterres said on Tuesday.

Israel has depicted its tightening grip as a temporary necessity to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war.

A CNN review of audio and video capturing the attack, photos and satellite imagery of the mass grave, along with interviews with an eyewitness, forensic experts and family members provides a detailed account of the Israeli military’s targeting and burial of clearly marked rescue crews from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society,

Ms Hunter, who lives in Grimsby and is a theatre nurse at Diana Princess of Wales Hospital, was presented with the Humanitarian Medal at Buckingham Palace. "I know my family would prefer I just put my feet up and started knitting or something – but I'd far rather help stitch up patients who need our help in Gaza," she said.