Israel's defense minister said Tuesday that the window is closing on an opportunity to reach a temporary cease-fire deal with Hamas that he believes could also bring calm to Israel's volatile northern border with Lebanon.

Speaking to reporters, Yoav Gallant said that conditions are ripe for at least a six-week pause in fighting that would include the release of many of the hostages held in Gaza. However, he would not commit to a permanent end to the fighting, as Hamas has demanded, raising questions about the feasibility of a deal.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant offered his support for a hostage release agreement in the first phase of a Gaza truce deal, saying it would give Israel a "strategic opportunity" to address other security challenges.

The Palestinians have circulated a draft U.N. resolution demanding that Israel end its "unlawful presence" in Gaza and the West Bank within six months.

The proposed General Assembly resolution, which was obtained by The Associated Press, follows a ruling by the top United Nations court in July that said Israel's presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.

An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group.

It was among the deadliest strikes yet in Muwasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians to seek shelter from the Israel-Hamas war.

Turkey said Monday it had bombed Kurdish militant bases in the mountains of northern Iraq, the latest such cross-border strike.

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed early Sunday they shot down another American-made MQ-9 drone flying over the country, marking potentially the latest downing of the multimillion-dollar surveillance aircraft. The U.S. launched airstrikes over Houthi-controlled territory afterward, the rebels said.

The U.S. military told The Associated Press it was aware of the claim but has "received no reports" of American military drones being downed over Yemen.

The Israeli military has ordered another evacuation of some residential areas in northwest Gaza where it says Palestinian militants fired rockets on the nearby Israeli town of Ashkelon.

The orders issued on Monday came after a rocket attack triggered air raid sirens in Ashkelon the day before. The military said it intercepted one projectile and another fell in the sea.

Israel pounded Gaza Sunday with air strikes and shelling as prospects remained dim for a ceasefire, while in the evening the military said two rockets were fired from northern Gaza towards the area of Ashkelon.

One was intercepted, while the other fell off the coast of Ashkelon city, the army said.

Iraq and the United States have agreed on a phased pullout of the U.S.-led anti-jihadist coalition but have yet to sign a final agreement, the Iraqi defense minister said Sunday.

Syrian state media said Monday that overnight Israeli strikes killed 16 people in central Hama province, while a war monitor reported a higher death toll in the "intense" raids on military sites.

The Israeli military, which has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since its civil war started in 2011, declined to comment on the latest reported attack.