In a separate development, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital on the northern edge of Gaza said on Thursday about 50 people, including five of its staff, had been killed in an Israeli strike on a building by the hospital. A paediatrician and two paramedics were among them.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 28 Palestinians, including at one family's home and at a school building the military said was used by Hamas.

Israeli forces unleashed a series of strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa and the western city of Hodeidah on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more, the Houthi militant group said in a statement.

Israel and Hamas on Wednesday accused each other of obstructing negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, after Israel withdrew its negotiators from the talks the previous day. Israeli media reported on Wednesday that the refusal by the Palestinian Islamist militia Hamas to hand over a list of the names of the hostages it still holds is hindering progress in the negotiations.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel traded blame on Wednesday (December 25) over their failure to conclude a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in past days. Olivia Zollino reports.