More Palestinian families left Gaza City on Tuesday after a night of Israeli shelling on its outskirts, as Israelis launched a day of nationwide protests calling for hostages to be released and the Gaza conflict to end.

Residents said Israeli aerial and tank shelling continued throughout the night and early on Tuesday in the eastern Gaza City suburbs of Sabra, Shejaia and Tuffah, as well as in Jabalia town to the north, destroying roads and houses.

The Israeli military has said its forces are operating in the area to locate weapons and destroy tunnels used by militants. Despite widespread protests at home and international condemnation, Israel is preparing to launch a new offensive in Gaza City, in what it describes as Hamas' last bastion.

At least 34 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the enclave overnight and on Tuesday, local health authorities said, including 18 people around Gaza City.

Around half of the enclave's two million people currently live in Gaza City, with several thousand already moved westward, pouring into the heart of the city and along the coast. Others have ventured further south to central Gaza and the coastal area of Al-Muwasi near Khan Younis.

Israeli strikes at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday killed at least 20 people, including journalists working for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and others.

On Tuesday, United Nations General Assembly President Philemon Yang strongly condemned Israel's strike on Gaza's Nasser Hospital. His spokesperson Sharon Birch said, "The killing of innocent Palestinian civilians, of journalists and of medical personnel is unacceptable and must stop," urging an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and rapid, safe and unhindered food delivery to the besieged region.

Israeli 'National Day of Struggle'

At home, Israelis took to the streets on Tuesday, blocking highways, burning tires and rallying outside ministers' homes to demand a ceasefire in Gaza that would secure the release of hostages still held in the enclave.

The "National Day of Struggle" was organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents relatives of the captives. The group urged the public to step up pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to advance truce talks. 

"For 690 days, the government has been waging a war without a clear objective," said Einav Zangauker, mother of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker, in a statement with other hostage families who launched the so-called Day of Disruption.

"How will the hostages, the living and the fallen, be returned? Who will govern Gaza the day after? How do we rebuild our country?" she said.

Netanyahu convened his cabinet in the afternoon, but no announcement followed. A government official told Xinhua that the meeting didn't address the stalled ceasefire negotiations or the recent proposal mediated by Qatar and Egypt that Hamas endorsed last week.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari confirmed on Tuesday that Israel had yet to respond to the proposal, which he said "matches 90 percent of what Israel wants." 

"The ball is now in Israel's court, and it seems that it does not want to reach an agreement," he added.

Protesters accused Netanyahu of deliberately sabotaging the agreement, "in complete contradiction to the will of the people."

By nightfall, protesters gathered in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square. According to the organizer, about 200,000 gathered there.

Trump to chair Gaza meeting

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump will chair a meeting on Gaza at the White House on Wednesday and added that Washington expected the Israel-Hamas conflict to be settled by the end of the year.

Trump had promised a swift end to the Gaza conflict during the 2024 U.S. election campaign and after taking office in January but almost seven months into his term, the stated goal remains elusive.

When asked on a Fox News show if there is a post-war plan for Gaza, Witkoff said: "Yes, we've got a large meeting in the White House tomorrow, chaired by the president, and it's a very comprehensive plan we're putting together on the next day."

When asked "should Israel be doing anything differently to end the war and get the hostages home," Witkoff said: "We think that we're going to settle this one way or another, certainly before the end of this year."

He added that Israel was open to continuing discussions with Hamas which had signaled they were open to a settlement.

The Gaza conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.

Israel's military offensive against Hamas has since killed at least 62,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis and internally displaced nearly its entire population.

(With input from agencies)