JERUSALEM 

Israel has decided to escalate its fighting in the Gaza Strip to improve its position in Gaza cease-fire and hostage swap talks, an Israeli news website said Sunday.

“The Israeli security cabinet recently instructed the military to intensify its operations in Gaza to strengthen Israel's position in the negotiations,” Walla reported, citing unnamed political sources.

The move coincides with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Israel, where Israeli security officials expect him to put significant pressure on Tel Aviv to reach an agreement with Hamas, according to Walla.

There has been no official Israeli statement on the matter.

Cease-fire talks in the Qatari capital Doha concluded Friday by presenting "a proposal that narrows the gaps" between Israel and Hamas that is consistent with the principles set out by US President Joe Biden on May 31.

Biden said in May that Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a cease-fire, a hostage-prisoner exchange and the reconstruction of Gaza.

For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to meet Hamas's demands to stop the war.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed nearly 40,100 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,500, according to local health authorities.

More than 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala