German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for a return to “serious” negotiations to end the Gaza conflict as Israel pushed on with a renewed assault targeting Hamas in the territory, AFP reports.

“What is needed now is a return to the ceasefire and the release of all hostages,” Scholz said, urging a return to “serious negotiations with the aim of agreeing a post-war order for Gaza that protects Israel’s security”.

Speaking alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Berlin, Scholz also called for more humanitarian aid for Gaza.

“No humanitarian aid has reached Gaza for a month,” he said. “This cannot and must not continue.” He added that “a sustainable peace that stabilises the situation in the West Bank as well as Gaza can only be achieved through a political solution”.