A key me­di­a­tor on Tues­day stressed the ur­gency of bro­ker­ing a cease­fire in Gaza af­ter Hamas showed a “pos­i­tive re­sponse” to a pro­pos­al, but Is­rael has yet to weigh in as its mil­i­tary pre­pares an of­fen­sive on some of the ter­ri­to­ry’s most pop­u­lat­ed ar­eas.

The prospect of an ex­pand­ed as­sault on ar­eas shel­ter­ing hun­dreds of thou­sands of civil­ians has sparked con­dem­na­tion in­side Is­rael and abroad. Most war-weary Pales­tini­ans see no place in Gaza as safe, not even de­clared hu­man­i­tar­i­an zones, af­ter 22 months of war.

Many Is­raelis, who ral­lied in the hun­dreds of thou­sands on Sun­day, fear the of­fen­sive will fur­ther en­dan­ger the re­main­ing hostages in Gaza. Just 20 of the 50 re­main­ing are thought to be alive.