The Israeli military said it had hit around 40 Hamas gathering points as well as command and control centres. It said it had taken numerous measures to reduce the risk of harming civilians, including using precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
The surge in operations and casualties comes amid a renewed push to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month-old war and return Israeli hostages before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Israeli mediators were dispatched to resume talks in Doha brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and on Friday, US President Joe Biden's administration, which is helping to broker the talks, urged Hamas to agree to a deal. Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement, but it was unclear how close the two sides were.
The Gaza health ministry said more than 40 people were killed on Friday after 71 were killed a day earlier, including in Al-Mawasi, an area in central Gaza previously declared a humanitarian safe zone by Israeli authorities.
The Israeli military said it had hit around 40 Hamas gathering points as well as command and control centres. It said it had taken numerous measures to reduce the risk of harming civilians, including using precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
It accused Hamas, the Islamist movement that formerly controlled Gaza, of placing fighters in civilian areas including buildings formerly used as schools, where it said troops had found a number of weapons. Hamas rejects accusations it deliberately uses the civilian population to shield fighters.
On Friday, the military told civilians in the area of al-Bureij in central Gaza to evacuate ahead of an operation it ordered following rocket attacks from the area. It said residents should move to the humanitarian zone for their own safety.
Elsewhere, Israeli troops have been battling Hamas fighters holding out in towns around the northern end of the enclave for the past month and continued to find weapons stores and underground infrastructure, the military said.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in which militants stormed border communities from Gaza, killing around 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies.
Its military campaign, with the stated goal of eradicating Hamas, has levelled swathes of the enclave, driving most people from their homes, and has killed 45,658 Palestinians according to the Gaza health ministry.
Severe winter weather has caused bitter hardship to hundreds of thousands who are sheltering in makeshift tent encampments.
Source: Reuters
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