Prospects of a ceasefire between Israel and its foes Hamas and Hezbollah have run aground as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 68 people in the Gaza Strip and bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, Reuters reports.

The Israeli military said it killed senior Hamas official Izz al-Din Kassab in an airstrike in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis and described him as one of the last surviving high-ranking members of Hamas responsible for coordinating with other groups in Gaza.

US envoys had been working to secure ceasefires on both fronts ahead of the US presidential election next Tuesday.

But Hamas does not favour a temporary truce, its Al-Aqsa Hamas television reported on Friday. The ceasefire proposals failed to meet its conditions that any deal must end the year-long conflict in Gaza and include a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the devastated Palestinian enclave, it said.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his priority was to enforce security “despite any pressure or constraints”.