Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu has just briefed foreign journalists on the efforts to end the fighting.

“We’re not standing with a stopwatch," he said. "We are taking care of the operation’s objectives.”

He said earlier that Israel was fighting to restore quiet and to maximise the amount of time that any truce with Hamas would last.

"There are only two ways that you can deal with them. You can either conquer them - and that's always an open possibility - or you can deter them," Netanyahu said.

"We are engaged right now in forceful deterrence, but I have to say we don't rule out anything."

BBC