Hostage talks constructive but much work left to be done: US

The White House said Monday that negotiations aimed at reaching a new deal with Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on the release of Gaza hostages have been constructive but much work remains to be done.John Kirby, White House national security spokesperson, told reporters that Washington is seeking a humanitarian pause in the fighting in Gaza of sufficient duration that will allow a large number of hostages to be freed.A report from Gaza said Israel launched an assault on the enclave's main northern city weeks after pulling back from it.Residents said air strikes on neighbourhoods across Gaza City killed and wounded many people. While tanks shelled the eastern areas of the city, naval boats fired shells and gun rounds at the beachfront areas in the west, they said.Israel said late last year that it had largely completed operations in northern Gaza. The push back into Gaza City, where residents reported fierce gun battles near the main Al-Shifa hospital, indicated that the war was not going to plan.Among those killed were two Palestinian journalists, Essam El-lulu and Hussein Attalah, along with several members of their families, health officials and the journalist union said.Hamas, for its part, fired its first volley of rockets for weeks into Israeli cities, proving that the militant group running Gaza still had the capability to launch them after nearly four months of war.The Israeli military said it shot down six of 15 rockets. Gazans said renewed violence in the enclave made a mockery of a ruling last week by the World Court calling on Israel to do more to help civilians.Israel ordered new evacuations of the most populated areas of Gaza City, but people said communications blackouts meant many would miss them.People in the north have been grinding animal feed to make flour after flour, rice and sugar ran out, part of an aid crisis now potentially exacerbated by a withdrawal of support for the United Nations' aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.Talks on Sunday initiated by Qatar and involving US, Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs were "constructive", Israel said, while adding that "significant gaps" remain. Hamas says it will not free hostages until Israel commits to ending the war. Israel says it will fight on until Hamas is eradicated.