Israel expands its ground operation in Gaza, says Hamas leader it targeted is likely dead

Qatar cease-fire talks advance as Israel says strikes to kill Mohammed Sinwar likely succeeded

- Carrie Keller-Lynn & Summer Said

Israel's military began activating troops in Gaza on Sunday as part of a larger ground operation aimed at pushing Hamas to demilitarize and release the remaining hostages it holds, as a senior Israeli official said a strike last week targeting Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar likely killed him.

Israel's military said on Sunday that it began "extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip" following a wave of 670 airstrikes it says is targeting Hamas infrastructure like weapons-storage facilities, underground sites, and antitank missile launchers as well as militants.

Effie Defrin, the Israeli military's chief spokesman, said that five divisions were now operating within the Gaza Strip and "unlike previously" the offensive would continue until Hamas's defeat. Israel plans to bisect the strip and move civilians, he said. Most Gaza residents have already been displaced, many people several times.

In the past 36 hours, 250 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza's health ministry, whose numbers don't distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Speaking in a closed-door parliamentary meeting, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that "based on all indications, Mohammed Sinwar was killed" in a strike carried out on the grounds of the European Hospital in Khan Younis, according to an Israeli official familiar with the meeting. Israel targeted underground infrastructure, which it said Hamas was using below the hospital. Palestinian health officials said six people were killed and more than 40 injured as a result of the strike.

Israel's military and Hamas declined to comment on whether they believe Sinwar was killed.