Efforts to pressure Israel to impose a ceasefire in Gaza are set to continue after Israel rejected calls for a pause in hostilities amid a US diplomatic blitz to the region to help contain escalation of the conflict.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to meet with Turkey’s foreign minister in Ankara later Monday, hours after hundreds of people at a pro-Palestinian protest tried to storm an air base that houses US troops in southern Turkey.

Blinken on Sunday made an unannounced visit to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who joined international calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Foreign ministers from Qatar, Saudi, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates earlier met Blinken in Amman on Saturday and also urged him to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire.

Blinken also visited Iraq on Sunday and held talks with Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani.

But after Blinken repeated US concerns that a ceasefire could aid Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled the move out unless hostages held by Hamas were released.

“There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. This should be completely removed from the lexicon,” Netanyahu said.

Palestinian news agency WAFA had reported an “unprecedented bombardment” from Israel on Sunday, while telecoms provider Paltel reported another cutoff of communications and internet services.

A spokesman for Israel’s military told CNN late on Sunday that bombardments in northern Gaza were halted for several hours two days in a row to allow for safe passage for civilians to move to the south of the narrow coastal strip.

“Not only are we telling them where to go, but we’re also helping and creating much better humanitarian conditions in the south,” Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said, without indicating whether such pauses would continue.

Conricus said there was access to water and humanitarian goods in the south of Gaza, but Hamas was impeding convoys by firing on them.

US Vice President Kamala Harris will call foreign leaders later on Monday to discuss the conflict and advance the administration’s efforts to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, her office said.

Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike.

Jordan’s air force air-dropped urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza early on Monday, according to a post on X, formerly Twitter, from Jordan’s king and reports in state media.

US Central Command, which covers the Middle East, said on X (formerly Twitter) that an Ohio-class nuclear missile submarine had arrived in the region – an unusual public announcement of a nuclear submarine’s position interpreted on the platform as a message to Iran.

At the Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza, where the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said Israeli forces had killed at least 47 people in strike early on Sunday, people searched for victims or survivors.

“All night I and the other men were trying to pick the dead from the rubble. We got children, dismembered, torn-apart flesh,” said Saeed al-Nejma, 53, adding that he had been asleep with his family when the blast hit his neighbourhood.

Asked for comment, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were gathering details.

In a separate attack, 21 Palestinians from one family, including women and children, were killed in strikes, the health ministry said. The IDF declined to comment.

As Israeli’s military said on Sunday it had surrounded the Gaza City, tensions increased with Lebanon after an Israeli strike on a car in the south of the country killed three children and their grandmother, Lebanese authorities said.

Israel’s chief military spokesperson said the military had attacked “terrorist targets of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon” in response to a missile attack against tanks that killed an Israeli citizen. He said a Hezbollah drone was also shot down.