Israeli forces kill dozens in Gaza with ceasefire talks set to resume

At least 35 Palestinians have been killed in multiple Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn, as high-level negotiators prepare to resume stalled ceasefire talks.

Israeli forces killed at least 19 people in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said Friday was shaping up to be “another bloody day”, following a 24-hour period in which at least 71 Palestinians were killed in 34 Israeli air attacks, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

Abu Azzoum said gunfire in Deir el-Balah suggested a “potential military advance by Israeli ground forces” in response to a Hamas attack on an Israeli tank in the area.

Israeli fighter jets destroyed buildings in the centre of the Strip, killing journalist Omar al-Diraoui in his home in az-Zawayda – the second journalist to be killed in 24 hours.

On Thursday, it was confirmed that photographer Hassan al-Qishaoui had been killed in an Israeli attack.

Following the deaths, Gaza’s Government Media Office revised its toll of journalists killed in the enclave since the beginning of the nearly 15-month war to 202.

Ceasefire talks to resume

As the attacks continued, ceasefire negotiations were expected to resume on 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.

Sami al-Arian, director of the Centre for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University, said Hamas could be willing to walk back one of its key demands – the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.

“There has been a lot of pressure from the mediators – particularly the Qataris and Egyptians – to be flexible on these terms,” he told Al Jazeera.

“They have assured the resistance, Hamas and other groups, that eventually Israel will withdraw,” he said.