Israeli airstrikes 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 depart 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.
"Everyone was taking shelter in their tents from the cold, and suddenly we found the world turning upside down. Why, and for what?” said Ziyad Abu Jabal, displaced from Gaza City.
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.
8 killed in Deir al-Balah
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.
In southern Gaza, the military killed five policemen in eastern Khan Younis. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said 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,” Mencer said.
Israel has repeatedly targeted Gaza's police during the war, contributing to a breakdown of law and order that has made it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver aid. Israel accuses Hamas of hijacking aid for its own purposes.
The Hamas-run government had a police force numbering in the tens of thousands that maintained a high degree of public security before the war.
Strikes kill 3 in Maghazi
Meanwhile, 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 Thursday and early 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.
The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times.
Hunger is widespread. Children, some barefoot or in sandals, waited in line with metal pails or other containers at a food distribution centre in Deir al-Balah on Thursday.
Netanyahu was released from the hospital on Thursday after having prostate surgery on Sunday.
He has vowed to press ahead in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed. But the group, while greatly weakened, has repeatedly regrouped in parts of the territory -– notably the largely isolated north – after Israeli forces withdraw.
Associated Press