Palestinian health authorities have said that airstrikes across Gaza have killed at least 50 Palestinians in the past 24 hours as the Israeli military said troops continued to target militants and seize weapons and ammunition, Reuters reports.

As last-ditch diplomatic efforts continued to halt the 10-month-old fighting 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 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his latest visit to the Middle East with no clear sign of whether a deal to end the fighting was in sight.

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