DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — Aid groups are raising new alarm over Israel’s blockade of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where it has barred entry of all food and other goods for more than six weeks. Thousands of children have become malnourished, and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, the United Nations says.

Hamas on Friday urged the international community to exert immediate pressure to end Israel's complete blockade of the Gaza Strip that has been in place since March 2.

The lead Hamas negotiator for ceasefire talks offered to swap all hostages held in Gaza for an agreed-upon number of Palestinians jailed in Israel. The offer came after Hamas reportedly rejected the latest Israeli proposal.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed at least 25 people on Friday including children, hospital workers said, as the new U.S. ambassador to Israel made his first public appearance in Jerusalem.

Israel struck a hospital in northern Gaza, forcing patients to evacuate as attacks intensified across the Strip.

Israeli airstrikes hit about 40 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military said on Friday, hours after Hamas rejected an Israeli ceasefire offer that it said fell short of its demand to agree a full end to the war.

Israel has dramatically expanded its footprint in the Gaza Strip since relaunching its war against Hamas last month.

Israeli troops will remain in the buffer zones they have created in Gaza even after any settlement to end the war, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday, as efforts to revive a ceasefire agreement faltered.