The comments by Defence Minister Israel Katz came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepared to travel to Qatar, where he planned to meet with officials there still incensed over Israel`s strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official

While Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit Monday, they stopped short of any major action targeting Israel, highlighting the challenge of diplomatically pressuring any change in Israel`s conduct in the grinding Israel-Hamas war

Rubio, speaking to journalists while leaving Israel for Qatar, suggested the offensive had begun

"Well, as you saw the Israelis have begun to take operations there. So we think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen," Rubio said. "We don`t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks so it`s a key moment, an important moment"

"Our preference, our No. 1 choice, is that this ends through a negotiated settlement," he added, while acknowledging the dangers an intensifed military campaign posed to Gaza

"The only thing worse than a war is a protracted one that goes on forever and ever," Rubio said. "At some point, this has to end. At some point, Hamas has to be defanged, and we hope it can happen through a negotiation. But I think time, unfortunately, is running out"

Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across Gaza City on Tuesday morning

The Shifa Hospital in Gaza City received the bodies of 12 people killed in a strike that hit multiple houses in the western part of the city, with another 90 wounded arriving at the facility in recent hours, said Dr. Rami Mhanna, hospital managing director

The Israeli military has not responded to questions for hours over whether the offensive had begun. However, Katz seemed to signal it was underway in a post on the social platform X