Clock Ticks on Hostage Talks as Israel Gears Up Gaza Sweep

Israeli officials say they’re poised to order tanks and troops into unconquered parts of the Gaza Strip in an all-out bid to destroy Hamas, throwing an ultimatum at the Palestinian Islamist faction to concede on terms for a negotiated winding down of the war.

Israel said however it would shortly begin to “admit a basic amount of food for the population in order to ensure that a famine crisis does not unfold” after a full block of food and other aid into Gaza that began on March 2.