The response is seen as neither an explicit rejection nor clear acceptance of the proposal, but US envoy Steve Witkoff has branded it "unacceptable".

Foreign contractors are set to carry out a contentious new food aid system in Gaza, displacing experienced aid agencies like the United Nations. It was conceived and largely developed by Israelis as a way to undermine Hamas.

The U.N. is still trying to get the desperately needed aid that has entered Gaza this week into the hands of Palestinians amid delays because of fears of looting and Israeli military restrictions.

Israel is blocking all but a trickle of humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, with almost no ready-to-eat food entering what its spokesperson described as "the hungriest place on earth".

Israel has accepted a US ceasefire proposal for Gaza that Israeli officials familiar with the matter said would involve a 60-day pause in the fighting and restore UN-led aid distribution to the enclave.