Israeli strikes killed at least 42 people in Gaza, including children, overnight and into Friday, hospital and emergency response workers said, as health workers and Israel's military traded claims over reported evacuation orders for two hospitals in the territory's largely isolated north.

Israel carried out air strikes on dozens of Hamas targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, it said on Friday, in attacks that Palestinian health authorities said had killed nearly 100 people. The surge in operations and casualties comes amid a renewed push to reach a ceasefire agreement before U.