The White House said that Israel agreed to a four-hour daily military operation halt in northern Gaza starting today, Thursday, in the first sign of a truce during more than a month of fighting between Israeli forces and Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) militants, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and raised concerns about regional conflict.

White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said the pauses, which will allow people to escape through two humanitarian corridors and could be used to release hostages, were important first steps.

Minutes later, US President Joe Biden told reporters he is pushing for a longer truce in Gaza to free the hostages held by Hamas.

In response to a question about whether he feels frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said, "It has taken a little longer than I had hoped."

Meanwhile, Taher al-Nunu, political advisor to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, said on Thursday that undefined negotiations are ongoing and no agreement has been reached with Israel yet.

The Israeli military said there would be no complete ceasefire, only tactical and local pauses for humanitarian aid.

No immediate reports of calm were reported in the fighting amid the destroyed buildings in northern Gaza Strip.

Israel launched its attack on Gaza in response to a raid conducted by Hamas across the border into southern Israel on October 7, during which militants killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including many Canadians.

According to Israeli statistics, about 240 hostages were captured.

This was the bloodiest day in Israel's 75-year history, sparking international condemnation of Hamas and sympathy and support for Israel.

But the Israeli retaliation in the Hamas-ruled Strip has raised grave concerns amid a humanitarian disaster.

Officials from Hamas-ruled Gaza said that by Thursday, 10,812 residents of the Strip have been killed in airstrikes and artillery shelling, while basic supplies are running out and areas are being destroyed due to continuous Israeli bombing.

In northern Gaza Strip, Israeli forces clashed with Hamas militants among the destroyed buildings and slowly approached two large hospitals as the plight of civilians in the besieged Palestinian territory worsened.

Residents say thousands of other Palestinians are fleeing from the besieged north to the south along a perilous main road after being asked by Israel to evacuate.

But many of them remain in the north, crowded in Al-Shifa Hospital and Al-Quds Hospital while ground battles rage around them and Israeli air raids fall from above.

Israel says its enemies from Hamas have command centers embedded in the hospitals.

In Paris, officials from about 80 countries and organizations are meeting to coordinate humanitarian aid for Gaza and find ways to help wounded civilians escape the siege now entering its second month.

Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said before the White House announcement: "Without a ceasefire, lifting the siege, stopping random shelling and the war, the bleeding of human lives will continue."

Israel and its main ally, the United States, say a complete ceasefire would benefit Hamas.

Residents in Gaza City, Hamas’s stronghold, said Israeli tanks have positioned around the area. Both sides reported inflicting heavy losses on each other in fierce street battles.

Israel, which has vowed to eliminate Hamas, says 33 of its soldiers have been killed in its ground operation as it advances into the heart of Gaza City.

Thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge in Al-Shifa Hospital inside Gaza City despite Israeli orders to evacuate the besieged area. They are sheltering in tents on the hospital grounds and say they have nowhere else to go.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel again asked northern residents to move south, and shelling around the main road continues, putting evacuated people at risk.

After crossing to the south with his family in Gaza Valley, Khaled Abu Issa said: "We saw decomposed bodies of people in civilian cars, civilians like us, not military vehicles or resistance men."

The southern areas have also been subject to regular attacks. Witnesses said residents of Khan Yunis, the largest city in southern Gaza Strip, continued searching among rubble and debris of a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, hoping to find survivors on Thursday morning.

Amid these conditions, the World Health Organization warned that "with continued rising deaths and injuries in Gaza from intense hostilities, severe overcrowding and the disruption of health, water and sanitation systems pose an additional risk: the rapid spread of infectious diseases."

A major crossing between Gaza Strip and Egypt remained closed until Thursday for thousands seeking to leave the Strip, including hundreds of Canadian citizens. Egyptian security and medical sources said evacuations of foreign passport holders and Palestinians requiring medical treatment resumed later via Rafah crossing.

Canada's Global Affairs Ministry said Canadian officials in Egypt are still ready to welcome those leaving the territory and assist them in reaching Cairo. Arrivals from Gaza are allowed to stay in Egypt for up to three days.
On Tuesday, 75 Canadians and permanent residents and their families were the first people in contact with Canada to leave the territory since the war began a month ago. The Canadian government stressed it cannot guarantee that everyone who wants to leave Gaza will be able to do so.

Outside Gaza, tensions also escalated on other fault lines. The Lebanese Hezbollah group said it fired rockets across the border into Israel, and the Israeli army said it responded with artillery fire.

Palestinian Health Ministry said on Thursday that ten Palestinians were killed and at least 20 others wounded by Israeli occupation forces’ gunfire during a raid on a city and refugee camp in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army said it is conducting counter-terrorism raids.

The Israeli army said an unidentified drone struck a civilian building in the coastal city of Eilat in southern Israel, causing only minor damage.