Israeli strikes continue in Gaza as ceasefire talks set to resume in Qatar
by Wafaa Shurafa, Fatma Khaled and Sam Mednick The Associated Press · Las Vegas Review-JournalDEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes killed at least 42 people in Gaza overnight and into Friday, hospital and emergency response workers said, as health workers and Israel’s military traded claims over reported evacuation orders for two hospitals in the territory’s north.
The Israeli army said in a statement that during the past day it had struck dozens of Hamas gathering points and command centers throughout Gaza. And it warned people to leave an area of central Gaza, saying that it would attack following launches toward Israel. The military said that a few projectiles entered from central and northern Gaza, with no injuries reported.
Israelis also woke up to attacks. Israel said that missiles were fired from Yemen, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and central Israel and sending people scrambling to shelters. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
While the U.N. Security Council met Friday to discuss the war’s effects on hospitals in Gaza, a hospital in the north, Al-Awda, said in a statement that Israel’s military had told staff and patients to immediately evacuate. It didn’t give details.
Israel’s military said that it wasn’t “operating to evacuate” Al-Awda or Indonesian hospitals.
Meanwhile, Hamas said in a statement that indirect ceasefire negotiations would resume Friday, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that he authorized a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue the talks in Qatar.