By Nidal al-Mughrabi and James Mackenzie
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed at least 50 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, Palestinian health authorities said on Wednesday, as the military said troops continued to target militants and seize weapons and ammunition.
As last-ditch diplomatic efforts continued to halt the 10-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli military said jets hit around 30 targets throughout the Gaza Strip including tunnels, launch sites and an observation post.
It said troops killed dozens of armed fighters and captured weapons including explosives, grenades and automatic rifles.
The military issued new evacuation orders in the heavily overcrowded area of Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the fighting have sought shelter.
The evacuation orders, which the military said were needed to clear civilians from what had become “a dangerous combat zone”, were soon followed by tank fire with at least one person killed and several wounded by machine gun fire, medics and residents said.
The conflict churned on as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his latest visit to the Middle East with no clear sign over whether a deal to end the fighting is in sight.
At stake in the talks Blinken had with leaders of ceasefire mediators, Egypt and Qatar, as well as in Israel, is the fate of tiny, crowded Gaza, where Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 40,000 people since October according to Palestinian health authorities, and of the remaining hostages being held there.
The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7 last year when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities and military bases, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
For the displaced left exposed in Deir Al-Balah, the lack of progress towards a ceasefire compounded the misery as they searched for space away from the fighting.
“Where will we go? Where will we go?” said Aburakan, 55, a displaced person from Gaza City in the territory’s north who has had to change refuge five times since October.
“We feel they are closing in. I live a few hundred meters from the threatened areas, and I have been searching since the early morning in vain for a space in western Deir Al-Balah, Khan Younis, or Nuseirat,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
“Unfortunately, we may die before we see an end to this war. All ceasefire talk is a lie.”
Palestinian and United Nations officials say most of the 2.3 million population have become internally displaced by Israel’s ongoing military offensive and bombardment that have also flattened swathes of built-up areas across the enclave.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and James Mackenzie; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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