Israeli strikes kill 23 in Gaza Sunday

Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes in the Palestinian territory had killed at least 23 people Sunday.

At least 11 people were killed in an air strike on a house in northern Gaza's Sheikh Radwan area early on Sunday, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said, adding that the dead included women and children.

"Rescuers are still searching for five people trapped under the rubble of the house," he said.

"Rescuers are using their bare hands because we lack proper equipment."

Bassal accused Israeli forces of "directing violent air strikes on homes where displaced people were sheltering, claiming they were targeting resistance fighters".

In a separate strike, five people were killed when the house of the Abu Jarbou family was struck in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the civil defence said.

Another strike killed four people in the town of Jabalia, the agency added.

Gaza's civil defence agency reported that on Saturday more than 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes.

Last week, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned of intensified Israeli strikes if the incoming rocket fire continued.

The renewed fire from Gaza has triggered air raid sirens in Israeli communities that were largely destroyed during Hamas's October 2023 attack.

Though less frequent than in the early days of the nearly 15-month-long war, there has been a recent spate of launches by militants in the devastated Palestinian territory.

The latest violence in Gaza comes as indirect negotiations for a hostage release deal and ceasefire had resumed in Qatar.

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged for months in efforts to strike a deal to end the war and secure the release of dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.