Reporting from Jordan’s Amman, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said that while Israel has accused Hamas of rejecting various proposals made by negotiators, talks had been stalled after Netanyahu refused to begin negotiations on phase two of the ceasefire deal on February 6.

“Several Israeli analysts, several within the political opposition and several within Netanyahu’s own government said that this was the plan all along – a resumption of the fighting, to go back to full-scale war,” Salhut said.

“And in fact, there’s a new army chief of staff, one who said that 2025 is going to be a year of war – noting that Israel still has a lot of goals to accomplish when it comes to the Gaza Strip, meaning that they are in no way finished with their military action.”

Israel’s 18-month war on Gaza has levelled much of the enclave, reducing homes, hospitals and schools to rubble.

Israeli forces have so far killed more than 48,000 people in the territory, according to Palestinian health authorities.