U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that there is a 'short window of time' for a truce in the Israel-Hamas war. America's top diplomat signaled an intensive Israeli operation targeting the Gaza Strip's biggest city may be underway.

"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.”

Rubio spoke as he prepared to leave from Israel on his way 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.

Israel's defense minister said Tuesday that “Gaza is burning” after heavy strikes overnight targeted Gaza City

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, Defense Minister Israel Katz seemed to signal it was underway in a post on the social platform X.

“Gaza is burning,” he wrote. “The (Israel military) is striking with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and (Israeli) soldiers are fighting heroically to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission.”