CAIRO, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Israeli tanks pushed into a new area on the edge of Gaza City overnight, destroying houses and prompting residents to flee, witnesses said, ahead of an expected meeting on the war to be chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Israel is pushing back on a U.N.-backed report declaring famine in parts of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the report an 'outright lie.'

Israeli protesters blocked roads in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in the country, holding up pictures of hostages still held in Gaza and calling for the war to end.

A United Nations official tells The Associated Press that if Israel’s military goes ahead with a planned offensive in Gaza City, then “all hope is gone that we’re ever going to see the end to this."

Secretary Rubio is expected to discuss postwar plans for the Gaza Strip, as negotiations with Hamas on securing a ceasefire have stalled.

A Democratic National Committee panel on Tuesday failed to advance dueling resolutions on the party’s stance on Israel’s war in Gaza, after one proposal was voted down and a second was withdrawn.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned Israeli attacks on Gaza as disproportionate, saying there have been “too many innocent victims.”

The measures were almost entirely symbolic, yet laid bare the broader fault lines dividing and shaping the party nearly two years after the war began.