42 killed as Israel pounds Gaza ahead of ceasefire talks in Doha
Israeli strikes killed at least 42 people in Gaza, including children, overnight and into Friday, hospital staff said, as often-stalled ceasefire talks to end the Israel-Hamas war were set to resume in Qatar. Sirens sounded across Israel for missiles fired from Yemen.
Efforts at ceasefire negotiations were expected to resume on Friday.
Staff at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said that more than a dozen women and children were killed in strikes in central Gaza, including in Nuseirat, Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al-Balah.
Dozens of people were killed across the enclave the previous day, bringing the total killed in the past 24 hours to 56.
“We woke up to the missile strike. We found the whole house disintegrated,” Abdul Rahman Al-Nabrisi said in the Maghazi refugee camp.
The Israeli army said in a statement on Friday that during the past day, it had struck dozens of Hamas gathering points and command centres throughout Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said that he authorised a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue negotiations in Qatar. The delegation was leaving for Qatar on Friday.
The US-led talks have repeatedly stalled during nearly 15 months of war. Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed. But the militants, while greatly weakened, have repeatedly regrouped, often after Israeli forces withdraw from areas.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which says women and children make up more than half the dead. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.
Israel’s military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in dense residential areas.
