The fighting continues in central Gaza , the Associated Press reports, with heavy weapons and machine guns firing at daybreak near east Deir al-Balah and four people killed in an early Israeli strike on a vehicle in Khan Younis .

Palestinian civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said late Thursday that 24 people were killed the day before in multiple strikes across Gaza by the Israeli military, including in Gaza City in the north. The strikes also caused multiple injuries, but Bassal did not specify how many.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military said early Friday that it had killed “dozens” of militants during close-quarters fighting yesterday in the central and southern Gaza Strip, with the air force striking about 30 targets throughout the area. In Khan Younis, the fighting included strikes against areas from which projectiles were launched at southern Israel over the past week, the military said.