Israel is determined to press ahead with its air offensive on Gaza with ground attacks only days if not hours away.

Averting that through diplomacy is not going to happen.

There has been some progress towards the release of hostages with two Americans reportedly released on Friday.

One Hamas leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal has been more explicit on Hamas's intentions with its hostages.

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Mr Meshaal says Hamas is holding enough to secure the release of all the thousands of Palestinians being held by Israel in exchange. That is likely to be a long term process of protracted and difficult negotiation.

So for now, the focus of diplomatic efforts is on addressing Gaza's most pressing requirement - getting in desperately needed aid.

There has been little progress on that either.

Talks involving the UN, US, EU, the Egyptians and the Israelis are foundering it is understood.

The sticking points: Israel wants to inspect the shipments itself to block weapons being smuggled in. The UN says it can do that itself.

And Israel does not want the shipments to include fuel.

Hospitals in Gaza say they desperately need it to keep generators going to save lives. Israel says it could be used by Hamas to fuel vehicles which could be used to attack their forces.

So little good news on the diplomatic front for now.

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World leaders hoping the conflict won't spread or bring regional instability will have been consoled though by the turnout in Friday's protests.

The Gaza war has inflamed the region with huge protests not seen for years. But calls by Hamas for mass unrest to follow Friday prayers have failed to deliver.

In Amman, Beirut, and the West Bank, the numbers were down.

On the streets of Amman in one of the city's two protests, people expressed frustration and impotent anger at the events in Gaza.

Crowds chanted: "All of Jordan is with Hamas."

A huge security presence seems to have deterred much bigger protests both here and at the border with Israel.

But with the humanitarian situation worsening by the hour in Gaza and Israel's ground offensive looming, the situation remains febrile across the region.