Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza as ceasefire talks continue in Qatar | News about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Dozens of Palestinians were killed in more Israeli attacks on Gazahospital staff said, as high-level negotiators prepare to resume stalled ceasefire talks.

Staff at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in central Gaza said on Friday that more than a dozen women and children were among those killed in attacks on Nuseirat refugee camp, az-Zawayda, Maghazi camp and Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

In Gaza City alone, at least 30 people were killed in Israeli attacks, according to a statement by the Palestinian Civil Protection. Among them were three children who died when their house was hit near the al-Shamaa Mosque in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

In southern Gaza, Civil Defense said its teams found the bodies of two Palestinians who were killed in an attack in the Khirbet al-Adas area, near Rafah, while two others were injured and taken to nearby Nasser Hospital.

Medical sources in the enclave told Al Jazeera that at least 52 Palestinians were killed across the Gaza Strip on Friday.

Israeli jets destroyed buildings in the center of the Strip, killing journalist Omar al-Diraoui in his home in az-Zawayda – the second journalist killed in 24 hours.

On Thursday, it was confirmed that photographer Hassan al-Qishaoui was killed in an Israeli attack.

After the death, the Gaza Government Media Office revised the number journalists killed in the enclave from the beginning of the almost 15-month war until 202.

Meanwhile, Israel continued a renewed military offensive in northern Gaza, and Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that Israeli forces had ordered the immediate evacuation of an Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia.

At least 25 patients were trapped in the hospital, along with medical staff, according to people at the hospital who spoke to Al Jazeera. Israeli soldiers have surrounded the facility and are shooting at it, they said.

Hamas strongly condemned the Israeli attack on the hospital in a statement, calling it a “war crime” and part of Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israelis also woke up to an attack early Friday morning, with the military intercepting a missile allegedly fired from Yemenwhich set off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and central Israel.

Continuation of ceasefire negotiations

As the attacks continued, a new round of indirect talks on a Gaza ceasefire continued in the Qatari capital, Doha, a senior Hamas official said.

Basem Naim emphasized the group’s seriousness in trying to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

The new talks will focus on agreeing to a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces, he said, as well as ensuring the return of displaced families to their homes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said earlier that he had authorized a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue negotiations in Qatar.

Sami al-Arian, director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Sabahattin Zaim University in Istanbul, said Hamas may be willing to withdraw one of its key demands – the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.

“There was a lot of pressure from the mediators – especially the Qataris and the Egyptians – to be flexible under these conditions,” he told Al Jazeera.

“They convinced the resistance, Hamas and other groups, that Israel would eventually withdraw,” he said.

But Ori Goldberg, a political analyst based in Tel Aviv, told Al Jazeera he saw no reason for optimism that a ceasefire would be agreed at the talks, amid the lack of significant international pressure being applied to both sides.

“As far as I know, Hamas is interested in a deal, but not overly so, because its recruitment rates increase the longer Israel continues its genocide in Gaza,” he said.

“The Israeli public is certainly interested in an agreement. [But] Israeli government? Not so much – the war serves its own interests,” he said.

Key mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been trying for months to secure a lasting deal in indirect negotiations.

So far, 45,658 Palestinians have been killed and 108,583 wounded in Gaza since Israel began its war against the enclave on October 7, 2023.

The war caused widespread destruction and displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many more than once.

Hamas-led forces killed about 1,139 people in Israel in attacks on October 7, 2023, and captured about 250 people.

There are still about 100 prisoners in Gaza, although at least a third of them are believed to be dead.