The United Nations and other international aid organisations have decried the devastating toll of six months of war in Gaza, warning that the Palestinian territory had become "beyond catastrophic".

"Six months is an awful milestone," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said, warning that "humanity has been all but abandoned" in the severity of the conflict.

The Gaza war broke out on October 7 and Israeli military has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made a new condemnation of the "barbaric act of violence" that unleashed the war, and demanded "the release of remaining hostages".

But, he stressed that "this atrocity does not justify the horrific ongoing bombardment, siege and health system demolition by Israel in Gaza, killing, injuring and starving hundreds of thousands of civilians, including aid workers.

"The denial of basic needs -- food, fuel, sanitation, shelter, security and healthcare -- is inhumane and intolerable," he wrote on X.

Of Gaza's 36 main hospitals, only 10 remain even partially functional, according to the WHO.

- 'Stain on all of humanity' -

Tedros voiced particular outrage at "the deaths and grievous injuries of thousands of children in Gaza", which he said would "remain a stain on all of humanity".

"This assault on present and future generations must end."

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, said the "hellhole in Gaza is deepening by the day".

"All lines -- including the red lines -- were crossed. This war is made far worse through technologies mis-used by humans to harm other humans; en-masse," he said on X.

"It is made worse by the famine born from an Israeli-imposed siege, one would think it’s from a different era. As a result, a man-made famine is eating up bodies of babies and young children," Lazzarini added.

UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said more than 13,000 children have reportedly died.

"Homes, schools and hospitals in ruin. Teachers, doctors and humanitarians killed. Famine is imminent," she said on X on Saturday.

The UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths insisted Saturday that there needed to be "a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity".

- 'Devastating and unacceptable' -

IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain described the situation as "beyond catastrophic" and warned "millions of lives are at risk of hunger."

The organisation announced Sunday that another Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) employee had been killed in Gaza.

The body of Mohammad Maher Khalil Abed was found on Sunday, but he was killed during the evacuation of the Al-Amal hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis on March 24, it said.

Sixteen PRCS staff and volunteers have now been killed since October 7.

Three staff and volunteers from Israel's Magen David Adom (MDA) have also been killed.

For the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the caretaker of the Geneva Conventions, "a steady flow of humanitarian aid" into Gaza was vital, but it was "only part of the solution".

"Both sides must conduct their military operations in a way that spares civilians caught in the middle," it said on X.

Tedros pointed out that over 70 percent of those who have died in Gaza have been women and children. "We urge all parties to silence their guns. We appeal for peace. Now."

Gaza ceasefire talks make 'significant progress'

Talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip have made "significant progress", Egyptian outlet Al-Qahera reported Monday.

The state-linked outlet reported "significant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement", citing a high-ranking Egyptian source.

Egypt, Qatar and key Israeli ally the United States have mediated previous rounds of negotiations, but a workable agreement to end the six-month war has remained elusive.

Al-Qahera reported that Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return "within two days to finalise the terms of the agreement".

US and Israeli delegations were due to leave the Egyptian capital "in the next few hours" and consultations were expected to continue over the next 48 hours, the outlet added.

Hamas's unprecedented attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants also took more than 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel has faced growing global opposition to the war, with the outcry intensifying following an Israeli drone strike that killed seven aid workers -- most of them Westerners -- for the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen on April 1.

Israel prepares military operations in Rafah

Israeli leaders were preparing Monday for military operations in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, where most of the Palestinian territory's population has fled after six months of fighting.

Talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a truce have made "significant progress", with more negotiations expected in the coming days, Egyptian state-linked outlet Al-Qahera reported Monday.

International pressure has mounted on Israel to bring an end to the war, with its main ally the United States last week demanding a ceasefire and hostage release deal along with ramped-up aid deliveries.

Israel pulled its forces out of the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.

But Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said troops had left the city of Khan Yunis "to prepare for future missions, including... in Rafah".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was "one step away from victory".

After troops left areas in and around the largely destroyed Khan Yunis, a stream of displaced Palestinians walked there, hoping to return to their homes from temporary shelters in Rafah, a little further south.

Muhammad Yunis, 51, a Palestinian in northern Gaza, saw nothing but loss.

"Isn't the bombing, death and destruction enough?" he asked. "There are bodies still under the rubble. We can smell the stench."

The war was sparked by the October 7 attack against Israel by Hamas militants that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants also took more than 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Palestinian dies after 38 years in Israeli prisons

A Palestinian who spent 38 years in Israeli prisons for his links to a group that killed an Israeli soldier died Sunday from cancer, according to media reports.

Walid Daqqah, 62, died at the Shamir medical centre near Tel Aviv. He was diagnosed with a rare bone marrow cancer in December 2022 and had previoulsy had leukemia.

Daqqah, an Israeli citizen, was arrested in March 1986 and jailed for belonging to an armed cell of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine that was blamed for the kidnapping and killing of an Israeli soldier in 1984.

His life sentence was reduced to 37 years, but two additional years were added in 2018 after he tried to smuggle mobile phones into prison. He was due to be released in March 2025.

Requests for medical parole were rejected, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, an association of Palestinians who have been held in Israeli prisons.

Amnesty International on Saturday repeated its call for his release. "Since 7 October 2023, Walid Daqqah has been tortured, humiliated, denied family visits and has faced further medical neglect," the group said.

The most famous Palestinian detainee in Israel remains Marwan Barghouti, a former Fatah leader sentenced for his role in anti-Israeli attacks in the early 2000s, who has spent 20 years behind bars.

His supporters had hoped he would be released as part of a prisoner exchange agreed in November 2023 between Israel and Hamas, weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks, when 80 Israeli hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners were freed.

No further accords have been reached despite indirect negotiations brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

Hezbollah commander ‘killed’ in Lebanon strike

The Israeli military said Monday it killed a Hezbollah commander in an overnight air strike in Lebanon, as cross-border violence flares between Israel and the Iran-backed armed group.

Ali Ahmed Hussein of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Forces was "eliminated" by Israeli jets in the area of Sultaniyeh in southern Lebanon, the military said in a statement, accusing him of attacks against Israeli targets in recent months.

At least two other people were killed in the strike, according to the Israeli military, Lebanese state media and a security source.

The military said Hussein had "carried out numerous launches toward Israeli territory" from Lebanon since war broke out on October 7 between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, a Hezbollah ally.

Hussein was a "commander of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation's Radwan Forces in the Hujeir region," the Israeli statement said, adding that two other Hezbollah fighters were also killed.

Hezbollah said one of its fighters, identified as Ali Ahmed Hussein and nicknamed Abbas Jaafar, had been killed, without saying where or when he died.

The Hezbollah statement did not mention his rank or position.

A Lebanese security source told AFP that "a local commander... from (Hezbollah's) Radwan unit" was killed in the Israeli strike along with two other members of the group.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the commander as Abbas Jaafar.

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that Israeli aircraft "raided an inhabited house" in Sultaniyeh, reporting "three martyrs and a number of wounded".

It said the strike caused "huge damage" to nearby buildings and infrastructure and that at least 10 families were affected.