Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again said Israel will go into Gaza but has refused to say when.
In a statement on Wednesday, he said the decision would be taken by the government’s special war cabinet.
He made the remarks as Russia and China vetoed a US-drafted Security Council resolution at the UN calling for pauses in hostilities to allow food, water and medicine to be delivered to Palestinian civilians.
Russia made a rival proposal that advocated a wider ceasefire, but failed to win the minimum number of votes. Israel has resisted both, arguing that Hamas would only take advantage and create new threats to Gaza civilians.
Since the 7 October Hamas massacre, Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed more than 6,500 Palestinians, the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip said on Wednesday. In the occupied West Bank, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed and 1,650 wounded in violence.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, according to Israeli officials, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas rampage.