Saturday’s attacks heavily targeted Khan Younis in the south, where thousands of people were forced to flee.
The Israeli army continued to bombard areas of the Gaza Strip to devastating effect as Qatar confirmed talks were once again underway to assess whether a new truce could be reached.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that talks were continuing.
“Qatar affirmed its ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause and expressed hope to build on the progress made to reach a comprehensive and lasting agreement that would end the war, stop the bloodshed of our Palestinian brothers and would lead to serious negotiations and the launch of a political process that results in a comprehensive, permanent and just peace, in accordance with international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative,” the ministry said in a statement .
Israeli land, air and naval forces launched attacks on the besieged enclave on Saturday, killing several dozen people. At least 18,787 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, after Hamas launched an attack in Israel, killing around 1,200 people.
Saturday’s attacks heavily targeted Khan Younis in the south, where thousands of people were forced to flee, as Israel expanded its ground military presence to the north and south.
Tel Aviv Tribune journalists Samer Abudaqa and Wael Dahdouh were covering the aftermath of an Israeli bombing of a school in Khan Younis on Friday when they were targeted by a drone strike.
Cameraman Abudaqa died after paramedics were prevented from reaching him for hours, and Gaza bureau chief Dahdouh walked to hospital after being injured by shrapnel .
Abudaqa is the 13th Tel Aviv Tribune journalist killed since the news network’s founding, and one of at least 57 Palestinian journalists killed while covering the war in Gaza.
The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it had attacked two schools in Gaza City, in the north of the Gaza Strip, claiming to have killed 25 fighters and captured 50 others.
Since the start of the war, the army has repeatedly legitimized attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals run by the United Nations, to target Hamas fighters.
However, reports on the ground show that scores of civilians were killed in most of these strikes. Earlier on Saturday, several Palestinians were killed and injured in an Israeli attack targeting the area around the al-Mazraa school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). ) in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. .
No significant progress has been made in stopping the war – even temporarily – since last month, when Israel withdrew its Mossad negotiators from Doha after a deal with Hamas could not be reached by Qatari mediation.
Reports on Saturday suggest Israel may seek to restart talks that previously led to a week-long truce and the exchange of dozens of prisoners held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
This comes after Israel admitted to mistakenly killing three of its captives held inside Gaza, who were initially considered combatants. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing increasing pressure from the families of those detained in Gaza to secure their release.
Another large demonstration took place on Friday in Tel Aviv to demand the release of the captives.