Israeli strikes kill eight Palestinians across Gaza

Israeli strikes killed at least eight Palestinians and wounded more than 20 others across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including five people travelling in a civilian vehicle and a journalist who was reportedly working on a story about Quran education.

Five Palestinians were killed when an Israeli strike hit a passenger vehicle near the Council of Ministers junction in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of southwest Gaza City.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its crews transferred five bodies to Al-Shifa Hospital and 13 wounded people to Al-Quds Hospital.

Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said the vehicle had been transporting civilians between Gaza City and the central and southern Gaza Strip when it was struck. He put the number of wounded at 20, including women and children.

Earlier on Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike on a home on Al-Wahda Street in Gaza City killed a woman identified as Iman Abdul Aal and critically wounded her husband.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted a Hamas member whom it accused of planning attacks against its forces. It did not publicly identify the alleged target.

In the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian journalist and imam Mohammed Abdul Aziz al-Najjar, 38, was killed in an Israeli drone strike in the Mawasi al-Qarara area northwest of Khan Younis.

Al-Najjar, who worked as a producer and presenter of religious programmes for Quran Radio, was preparing a report about Quran memorisation when he was struck, according to the Gaza Ministry of Endowments.

He had been displaced from Khuza'a, east of Khan Younis, where he served as imam of the Ibad al-Rahman Mosque.

His body was taken to the Nasser Medical Complex, while another person wounded in the attack was reported to be in moderate condition.

Later on Wednesday, an Israeli drone strike killed 33-year-old Bilal al-Sumairi near the Al-Matahin junction on Salah al-Din Street in Qarara, north of Khan Younis.

At least two other Palestinians were wounded in the attack, including a girl, according to Palestinian reports.

The attacks come despite a US-brokered ceasefire that took effect in October last year.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire, according to health officials in the territory.

More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its assault on Gaza, with hundreds of thousands injured and most of the population displaced.