The US is trying to stall Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza for as a long as possible – but it doesn’t have much longer, a security and defence analyst has said.

Professor Michael Clarke, former director general of the Royal United Services Institute, said Washington is likely hoping to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and retrieve more hostages before Israeli troops enter the region.

“The US know they can’t forestall for too much longer and they won’t want to… because this has got to happen at some point,” he said.

Joe Biden’s call with Canada and the big four in Europe yesterday likely centred around how to contain the crisis, Prof Clarke said – as he suggested further diplomatic visits this week make it unlikely the ground offensive will come in the next few days.

“If you’ve got a foreign leader in town, it’s very difficult to launch the invasion – not impossible but difficult.

“I think the Americans are trying to prolong the process whereby they can do more on the humanitarian side and maybe get some more hostages out. But there’s only so far they can go.”