Israeli airstrikes killed at least 40 people across Gaza on Thursday, including 10 people in a tent encampment sheltering displaced families, medics said.
The daily bombardments are continuing as efforts to secure a ceasefire have stalled. At least 15 others were injured in the attacks on Thursday.
Israeli strikes in the Maghazi and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza killed at least 14 people late Thursday, including four women and five children, according to The Associated Press.
An early morning strike in the seaside humanitarian zone known as al-Mawasi killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior Hamas police officers.
Israel's military said it targeted a senior officer in the Hamas-run police force. It said he was involved in gathering intelligence used by Hamas' armed wing in attacks on Israeli forces.
Another Israeli strike killed at least eight Palestinians in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The men were members of local committees that helped secure aid convoys, according to the hospital that received the bodies.
In the south of the enclave, Israel's military killed five police officers in eastern Khan Younis. Israeli government spokesperson 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.
Throughout the war, Israel has targeted police in Gaza, which has led to a deterioration of law and order that has complicated efforts by humanitarian groups to deliver much-needed aid. Israel accuses U.S.-designated terror group Hamas of taking the aid for its own purposes.
In another Israeli strike in Maghazi in central Gaza, three Palestinians were killed while walking in the street.
The head of the U.N. World Health Organization urged Israel to let more sick and wounded people leave Gaza to seek medical treatment abroad.
At least 5,383 patients have been evacuated with the WHO's help since the war broke out more than a year ago, leaving more than 12,000 Palestinians waiting to leave Gaza, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement Thursday.
Only 436 patients have left Gaza since May, when the Rafah border crossing shut down after Israeli troops took it over.
"At this rate, it would take five to 10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients, including thousands of children," Tedros said. "In the meantime, their conditions get worse and some die."
Israel warned Wednesday that it will intensify its strikes against Hamas if the militant group continues to hold the hostages it took in October 2023 and launches rockets at Israel.
"I want to send a clear message from here to the heads of the terrorists in Gaza: If Hamas does not soon allow the release of the Israeli hostages from Gaza ... and continues firing at Israeli communities, it will face blows of an intensity not seen in Gaza for a long time," Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Thursday that he had authorized a delegation from the country's intelligence services and military to continue negotiations in Qatar toward a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas militants attacking southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 people hostage. About 100 hostages are being held in Gaza, with at least one-third of them believed to be dead.
Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,500 Palestinians and injured more than 108,000, according to the health ministry in the enclave. The ministry does not differentiate between militants and civilians in its count.
The war has leveled wide areas of Gaza and displaced 90% of its 2.3 million people.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
