The Israeli military on Thursday said it had informed medical personnel and aid groups in northern Gaza to start making evacuation plans ahead of a military offensive to seize the area.

Israeli military officials this week informed"medical officials and international organizations in the northern Gaza Strip... to prepare for the evacuation of the population to the southern Gaza Strip", read the statement released by the military.

According to the statement, the military had informed relevant parties in Gaza to begin making plans to relocate hospital equipment to south.

"The officers emphasized to the medical officials that adjustments are being made to the hospital infrastructure in the south of the Strip to receive the sick and wounded, alongside an increased entry of necessary medical equipment," said the statement.

The statement comes after the defence ministry approved an expanded offensive to target the remaining Hamas strongholds in the strip.

The newly approved plan authorises the call-up of roughly 60,000 reservists, deepening fears the campaign will worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.

"We are not waiting. We have begun the preliminary actions, and already now, IDF (army) troops are holding the outskirts of Gaza City," the Israeli military said in a statement.

Israel's plans to expand the fighting and take control of Gaza City have sparked international outcry as well as domestic opposition.

Ahead of the offensive, the Israeli military said the call-up of the reservists would begin in early September.

Gaza City residents described relentless bombardments overnight.

"The house shakes with us all night long – the sound of explosions, artillery, warplanes, ambulances, and cries for help is killing us," one of them, Ahmad al-Shanti, told AFP.

"The sound is getting closer, but where would we go?".

Another resident, Amal Abdel-Aal, said she watched the heavy strikes on the area, a week after being displaced from her home in Gaza City's Al-Sabra neighbourhood.

"No one in Gaza has slept – not last night, not for a week. The artillery and air strikes in the east never stop. The sky flashes all night long," she added.

Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said air strikes and artillery fire overnight targeted areas to the northwest and southeast of Gaza City.

Late Thursday, the Israeli military detailed a range of operations across the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.

It said the manoeuvres and strikes"created the conditions" for the military to intensify pressure on Hamas and lay the groundwork for the next stages of the campaign.

As Israel tightened its grip on the outskirts of Gaza City, meditators continued to wait for an official Israeli reaction to their latest ceasefire proposal that Hamas accepted earlier this week.

'Ball' in Israel's court

Israel and Hamas have held a string of indirect negotiations throughout the nearly two-year conflict, paving the way for a pair of short ceasefires during which Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have overseen several rounds of shuttle diplomacy.

Qatar said the latest ceasefire proposal was"almost identical" to an earlier version approved by Israel, while Cario said Monday that"the ball is now in its (Israel's) court".

Late Wednesday, Hamas lambasted the Israeli defence ministry's approval of plans to take control of Gaza City, saying it showed its"blatant disregard" for efforts to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

"Today's announcement by the terrorist occupation army of the start of an operation against Gaza City and its nearly one million residents and displaced persons... demonstrates... a blatant disregard for the efforts made by the mediators," it said in a statement.

Israel's offensive has killed at least 62,122 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the UN considers reliable.