Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he had ordered immediate negotiations aimed at freeing all the remaining hostages in Gaza, as Israeli troops hammered the territory's largest city ahead of a major planned offensive.

The call for renewed talks came a day after the defence ministry approved a plan authorising the call-up of roughly 60,000 reservists to help capture Gaza City, home to Hamas's final stronghold.

"I have come to approve the IDF's (military's) plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas," the prime minister said in a video statement filmed during a visit to the Gaza division's headquarters in Israel.

"At the same time, I have instructed to immediately begin negotiations for the release of all our hostages and the end of the war under conditi

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