The next stage is a ground offensive that "will take a long time," Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told a small group of foreign reporters on Friday.

Gallant said the ground invasion would include large forces, backed by airstrikes, and that it would be followed by a third phase of lower-intensity fighting, as Israel destroys "pockets of resistance."

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which tracks the toll, released a detailed list of names and ID numbers on Thursday, to counter suggestions by U.S. President Joe Biden and others that it was inflating casualty figures.

At a UN meeting on Gaza on Thursday, Israel's Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the 193-member world body, "A cease-fire means giving Hamas time to rearm itself, so they can massacre us again."

"The siege means that food, water and fuel — basic commodities — are being used to collectively punish more than two million people, among them, a majority of children and women," Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, told reporters.

A medical team and 10 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Friday via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, carrying water, food and medicine, a Palestinian border official told Reuters.

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