Israeli airstrikes kill at least 50 people across Gaza
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Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 50 people, including several children, across the Gaza Strip, hitting Hamas security officers and an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone.
As the bombardment continued on Thursday and into Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had authorised a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue negotiations in Qatar toward a ceasefire deal.
Israeli media said the delegation would leave on Friday. There was no immediate Hamas comment.
The US-led talks have repeatedly stalled during 15 months of war.
The Israeli strike in the seaside humanitarian zone known as Muwasi occurred as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been huddling there in damp winter weather.
The early morning strike killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior Hamas police officers.
Israel’s military said it targeted a senior police officer, saying he was involved in gathering intelligence used by Hamas’ armed wing in attacks on Israeli forces.
Another Israeli strike killed at least eight people in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The men were members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.
There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military.
In southern Gaza, the military killed five policemen in eastern Khan Younis with Israeli government spokesman David Mencer saying the strike targeted the head of the Hamas internal security force in southern Gaza.
“Where did we find him? Where else, but of course hiding in the humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, where Gazans are sheltering from this war,” Mr Mencer said.
Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a group of people walking in the street in Maghazi in central Gaza. Their bodies were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Late on Thursday and early on Friday, Israeli strikes in central Gaza, including Maghazi and the Nuseirat refugee camp, killed at least 24 people, including children, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Mr Netanyahu was released from hospital on Thursday after having prostate surgery on Sunday.
Doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital said Netanyahu was recuperating well, although he has a period of recovery ahead. Despite the doctor’s orders to remain in hospital, the 75-year-old leader briefly left the facility to participate in a vote in Israel’s parliament on Tuesday.
Mr Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed.
But the militant group, while greatly weakened, has repeatedly regrouped in parts of the territory — notably the largely isolated north — after Israeli forces withdraw.