The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday that more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in the 22-month war in Gaza. The Health Ministry said 1,965 people have been killed while seeking aid from aid convoys or killed close to aid distribution sites.

In Gaza City, many Palestinians have also been calling for protests soon to demand an end to a war that has demolished much of the territory and wrought a humanitarian disaster, and for Hamas to intensify talks to avert the Israeli ground offensive.

Hamas said that Israel's plan to relocate residents from Gaza City constitutes a "new wave of genocide and displacement" for hundreds of thousands.

Many Israelis feel that freeing the hostages cannot happen if the government refuses to come to terms with Hamas and pursues its policy of trying to eliminate the group militarily.

Fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south of the shattered territory.

Israel’s security cabinet has voted to expand the war in Gaza, marking a major escalation at a time when it is under intense domestic and international pressure to end the conflict.

Israel's ongoing war in Gaza is part of a decades-long pattern of oppression, author Norman Finkelstein told a Little Rock audience Saturday, urging them to demand an end to the bloodshed.