Hamas’s delegation has voiced dissatisfaction with Israeli responses so far on a Gaza ceasefire plan and left Cairo for consultations with the movement’s leadership in Qatar, AFP reports.

US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew denied the talks had “broken down”. “The differences are being narrowed. It’s not yet an agreement. Everyone’s looking towards Ramazan, which is coming close. I can’t tell you that it will be successful, but it is not yet the case that it is broken down,” Lew said.

Israeli war cabinet member Gadi Eisenkot said Hamas was under “very serious pressure” from mediators to make a “counter-offer”. “Then it will be possible to advance it and take a position,” he said.

As talks drag on, the United Nations has warned repeatedly that famine looms in the territory. By late January the escalation had damaged around half of all buildings in Gaza and rendered the territory “uninhabitable” for its 2.4 million people, a UN agency said.

The health ministry on Wednesday said 20 people had died of malnutrition and dehydration, at least half of them children.