Israel postpones military action in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed making a decision on the actions his country’s military will take in Gaza if Hamas does not agree to a ceasefire deal, a source familiar with the matter said.

A decision will no longer come this week. This comes amid internal disagreements in the Israeli government about its preferred course of action in the enclave, CNN reported.

The shift comes as Hamas has disengaged from ceasefire and hostage negotiations. Hamas’ disengagement follows the U.S. and Israel pulling their delegations from talks in Doha.

Earlier, Hamas said it was committed to continuing negotiations toward a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, but conditions in the enclave would first have to improve “significantly.”

"It is essential to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation significantly and to obtain a written response from the enemy regarding our response. This is a condition to go back to negotiations," senior member of Hamas’ political bureau Basem Naim said.

The faltering peace talks come amid a catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, where scores of people are starving to death. All of Gaza’s 2.1 million people are now food insecure, without reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious and healthy food, the UN said