In Israel, Colonel Elad Goren, head of the civil department at COGAT, the Israeli agency for civilian coordination with the Palestinians, has told reporters: “We will open Kerem Shalom just for inspection. It will happen in the next few days.”

According to Reuters, Kerem Shalom sits at Gaza’s southern border with Israel and Egypt and the crossing was used to carry more than 60 per cent of the truckloads going into Gaza before war erupted two months ago.

With no end in sight to the fighting, a top White House national security aide, Jon Finer, said the United States had not given Israel a firm deadline to end major combat operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

There are many “legitimate military targets” remaining in south Gaza including “much if not most” of the Hamas leadership, Finer said at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington.