A ceasefire remains in place between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, but it has not halted the violence in Gaza, and efforts to secure a lasting agreement to end the war have stalled.
“Eight people were killed after Israeli warplanes struck a gathering of civilians in the Al-Balata market area of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza,” the civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas, reported.
The area’s Al-Awda hospital said it received the eight dead and 22 people wounded in the strike.
Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, said the strike occurred during a funeral procession.
The military confirmed carrying out the strike.
“A short while ago, the IDF struck a terrorist cell of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation in the central Gaza Strip,” the military said.
“The IDF is aware of the claims that several uninvolved individuals were harmed as a result of the strike. The results of the strike are under review.”
The civil defence agency and hospitals reported that five other people were killed in separate Israeli strikes on Friday.
They included two women and the man whose funeral was taking place when the market strike occurred.
Before Friday’s casualties, at least 1,127 Palestinians had been killed since the truce took effect last October, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza over the same period, as well as one civilian contractor. (AFP)
