Gaza officials say Israeli strike near market killed eight and wounded 22

Gaza's civil defence agency and Al-Awda hospital said an Israeli airstrike killed eight people on Friday near Al-Balata market in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The hospital said it received the eight dead and 22 wounded people after the strike.

Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the civil defence agency, said the strike took place during a funeral procession. The agency operates as a rescue service under Hamas.

The Israeli military confirmed carrying out a strike in central Gaza. It said it had struck what it called a terrorist cell from Islamic Jihad. The military said it was aware of claims that several uninvolved people had been harmed and said the results of the strike were under review.

The civil defence agency and hospitals also reported five other deaths in separate Israeli strikes on Friday. They said those killed included two women and the man whose funeral was under way when the market strike happened.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains in place, but violence has continued in Gaza and efforts to reach a lasting agreement to end the war have stalled. Before Friday's casualties, Gaza's health ministry said at least 1,127 Palestinians had been killed since the truce took effect last October. The ministry operates under Hamas authority, and its figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. The Israeli military says five soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed in Gaza over the same period.

Restrictions on media access in Gaza prevent independent verification of casualty tolls or unrestricted coverage of the violence there.