"I can tell you that there are some very sensitive discussions that are taking place but I certainly don't want to get ahead of any announcement at this podium," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a regular briefing.
"I'm going to let Special Envoy (Steve) Witkoff and the president of the United States handle that".
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City, saying it was their "last opportunity" and that anyone who stayed would be considered a militant supporter and face the "full force" of Israel's latest offensive.
At least 16 Palestinians were killed across the territory, according to local hospitals, as Hamas weighed a proposal from Trump aimed at ending the war and returning the remaining captives taken in Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack that triggered it.
A senior Hamas official told the Associated Press that there are some points in the proposal that are unacceptable and must be amended, without elaborating.
He said the official response will only come after consultations with other Palestinian factions.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief media about the ongoing talks, said Hamas had conveyed its concerns to longtime mediators Qatar and Egypt and had requested more time to discuss the proposal.
About 400,000 Palestinians have fled famine-stricken Gaza City since Israel launched a major offensive last month aimed at occupying it but hundreds of thousands remain, many because they cannot afford to leave or are too weak to make the journey to tent camps in the south.
"This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south and leave Hamas terrorists isolated in Gaza City," Katz wrote on X.
"Those who remain in Gaza will be (considered) terrorists and terror supporters."
At least seven people, including first responders, were killed when two Israeli strikes minutes apart hit a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, according to al-Ahli Hospital, where the casualties were taken.
Officials there said more than three dozen people were wounded.
Five Palestinians were killed later in a strike on people gathered around a drinking water tank elsewhere in Gaza City, the hospital said.
Shifa Hospital said a man was killed in a strike on his apartment.Â
Strikes in the centre of the Gaza Strip killed another three people, according to al-Awda Hospital.
Another strike hit a tent in the courtyard of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah, seriously wounding two people, according to hospital officials.
Thursday is Yom Kippur - the high Jewish holiday of the Day of Atonement - when stores, businesses, public transportation and broadcasting shut down in Israel, beginning around sundown on Wednesday.
with AP
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