The United States will push Israel to conduct “small-scale” raids against Hamas instead of its major ground and air offensive, according to US officials.

Lloyd J Austin III, the US defence secretary, will meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, this week to discuss a new phase of the conflict.

American officials envisage that it would involve smaller groups of elite forces conducting more precise intelligence-driven missions to kill Hamas leaders and rescue the hostages.

Mr Austin is still expected to reiterate support for Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas, but also restate the importance of civilian safety and the need to increase humanitarian assistance.

Transition to new phase of war

It echoes comments made by Jake Sullivan, president Joe Biden’s national security adviser, last week, who said there would be a transition to another phase of the war that is focused in “more precise ways”.

The New York Times reported the news, citing a senior Pentagon official, and said that in a sign of the urgency Gen Charles Q Brown Jr, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also join Mr Austin in Israel.

Mr Austin and Gen Brown are expected to share their lessons of moving from major ground offensives in Iraq and Afghanistan to more targeted operations.

Officials want the new phase of the campaign to begin within three weeks, the New York Times reported.

It came as Lord Cameron, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, called for a “sustainable ceasefire” in the Israel-Gaza conflict, marking a notable shift in tone from the UK government.

Writing a joint article with Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, Lord Cameron warned “too many civilians have been killed in Gaza”.

“Our goal cannot simply be an end to fighting today. It must be peace lasting for days, years, generations. We therefore support a ceasefire, but only if it is sustainable,” the foreign ministers wrote in the Sunday Times.

Hostages killed by Israeli troops

The shift in language comes as Mr Netanyahu also faces public anger about the killings of three hostages.

On Saturday, it emerged that the three men were shot by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip despite being shirtless and waving a white flag.

According to an IDF source, one soldier declared the men as “terrorists” and opened fire, killing two immediately.

The third man was wounded, and a cry for help was heard in Hebrew. He later re-emerged, and was shot and killed, the official said.

In a nationwide address on Saturday, Mr Netanyahu said the killings “broke my heart, broke the entire nation’s heart,” but indicated no change in the country’s military campaign.

“We are as committed as ever to continue until the end, until we dismantle Hamas, until we return all our hostages,” he said.

Indeed, Israel continued to press ahead with its offensive on Sunday. Five Palestinians were killed Sunday morning in an Israeli army operation at the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The French foreign ministry said one of its workers had died as a result of injuries sustained from an Israeli attack on a house in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. France condemned the bombing of a residential building.

Hospital A&E is ‘bloodbath’

The World Health Organisation also issued a warning on Sunday, that the emergency department of the Al-Shifa hospital is a “bloodbath”.

“The team described the emergency department as a ‘bloodbath’, with hundreds of injured patients inside, and new patients arriving every minute,” the UN agency said. “Patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor.”

Gaza remained under a communications blackout for a fourth day, marking the longest of many outages over the course of the war.

Aid groups have said this hampers rescue efforts after bombings, can impede life-saving operations and makes it even more difficult to monitor the war’s toll on civilians.

Amid mounting pressure for a prisoner and hostage deal – with Israeli families marching in Tel Aviv demanding such a plan – David Barnea, Israel’s Mossad spy agency chief, also met Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister, late on Friday.

Reuters reported that the meeting, held in Europe, was the first between senior officials from Israel and Qatar, which has been acting as a mediator since the collapse of a seven-day ceasefire in late November.

Mr Netanyahu sidestepped a question about the meeting during a press conference on Sunday, but confirmed he had given instructions to the negotiating team.

Hamas said it “affirms its position not to open any negotiations to exchange prisoners unless the aggression against our people stops once and for all”.