Israel faces growing pressure to end war

Israel Tuesday said 24 soldiers died in the biggest single-day losses since the start of its ground war in Gaza amid growing pressure on the government to end the conflict.
Israel's army said 21 of the 24 troops killed were reservists slain when rocket-propelled grenade fire hit a tank and two buildings they were trying to blow up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an investigation was launched into the "disaster" and that Israel "must learn the necessary lessons".
Israela Oron, of the Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, said the mounting toll of soldiers killed -- now 221 -- since Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza will heap pressure on the government.
On the ground, fighting raged in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city, which the Israeli army said it had "encircled".
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said Israeli tanks fired on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, with "dozens expected wounded".
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces had hit its headquarters in Khan Younis "resulting in injuries among internally displaced individuals who sought safety on our premises".
UN agencies and aid groups have sounded the alarm about the growing threat of disease and famine in Gaza, where 1.7mn people are estimated to have been uprooted.
Israel has carried out a relentless offensive since October 7 that has killed at least 25,490 people in Gaza, around 70% of them women, young children and adolescents, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Netanyahu's vow to destroy Hamas is increasingly seen within the cabinet as incompatible with returning hostages, experts say.
US news outlet Axios reported on Monday that Israel had proposed to Hamas, via Qatari and Egyptian mediators, a new deal to free all the hostages.
The report said the proposed deal would be carried out in multiple stages and involve releasing an undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners.
The plan was expected to take about two months to complete.
The proposal does not include promises to end the war but would involve Israeli troops reducing their presence in major cities in Gaza and gradually allowing residents to return to the territory's devastated north, Axios said.
US media said the White House's coordinator for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, was expected in Egypt and Qatar for meetings aimed at securing a new hostage exchange deal.
A Palestinian source said a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo to meet Egypt's intelligence chief and discuss new ceasefire proposals.
The Gaza war has spurred fears of a wider escalation, with a surge in violence involving Iran-backed Hamas allies across the region.