Israel has carried out air strikes on dozens of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, it says, pressing attacks that Palestinian health authorities say have killed more than 110 people in two days,
Canberra Times reports.
The surge in operations and casualties comes amid a renewed push to reach a ceasefire agreement in the 15-month-old war before US president-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
Israeli mediators were dispatched on Thursday to resume talks in Doha brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
The Gaza health ministry said more than 40 people were killed on Friday after 71 were killed a day earlier including in al-Mawasi, an area in central Gaza previously declared a humanitarian safe zone by Israeli authorities.
The Israeli military said it had hit about 40 Hamas gathering points as well as command and control centres.
It said it had taken numerous measures to reduce the risk of harming civilians including using precise munitions, aerial surveillance and other intelligence.
It accused Hamas, the Islamist movement that formerly controlled the Gaza Strip, of placing fighters in civilian areas including buildings formerly used as schools, where it said troops had found a number of weapons.
Hamas rejects accusations it deliberately uses the civilian population to shield fighters.
On Friday, the military told civilians in the area of al-Bureij in central Gaza to leave ahead of an operation it ordered following rocket attacks from the area.
It said residents should move to the humanitarian zone for their own safety.
