Fighting continued in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, even as the United States, Qatar and Egypt pushed forward to try and win agreement on a cease-fire deal.
Heavy weapons and machine guns could be heard firing at daybreak near east Deir al-Balah in a video shot by The Associated Press, with the streets nearly deserted. In the southern city of Khan Younis, four people were killed in an early Israeli strike on their vehicle, said Palestinian Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal.
Bassal reported late Thursday that 24 people were killed the day before in multiple strikes across the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military, including in Gaza City in the north and Khan Younis in the south.
He said the strikes also caused multiple injuries but did not specify how many.
Israel’s military said early Friday that it had killed “dozens” of militants during close-quarters fighting Thursday in the central and southern Gaza Strip. It said that in Khan Younis, the fighting including strikes against areas from which projectiles were launched at southern Israel over the past week.
The air force also struck approximately 30 targets across the Gaza Strip, including military posts, weapons storage facilities and launch sites in the area of Khan Younis, the military said.
