An Israeli air strike killed at least eight Palestinians in an apartment in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, medics said.
Palestinian health officials told Reuters that Israeli military strikes across the enclave had killed a total of 15 people on Friday.
Mediated ceasefire efforts have yet to secure a deal between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas after more than a year of conflict in the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday, sources close to the discussions, told Reuters that the Arab mediators, Qatar and Egypt, had been able to hammer out some differences but some sticking points remained unresolved and needed more discussion.
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The latest attack in the enclave comes as an Israeli government minister criticised Pope Francis on Friday for suggesting the international community should study whether Israel’s military offensive in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
Israel started its air and ground assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel says about 100 hostages are still being held, but it is unclear how many are alive.
Authorities in Gaza say Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and reduced much of the coastal enclave to ruins.
In an open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio, Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs Amichai Chikli said the pope’s remarks – made in excerpts from a forthcoming book that were published last month – amounted to a “trivialisation” of the term genocide.
“As a people who lost six million of its sons and daughters in the Holocaust, we are particularly sensitive to the trivialisation of the term ‘genocide’ – a trivialisation that comes dangerously close to Holocaust denial,” Mr Chikli wrote.
Mr Chikli, who ended the letter by calling Francis “a dear friend of the Jewish people,” asked the pope “to clarify your position regarding the new accusation of genocide against the Jewish state”.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.
Israel says accusations of genocide in Gaza are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Hamas militants and other Palestinian armed groups.
The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas.
In the book excerpts published by Italian daily La Stampa, the pontiff said some international experts said that “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide”.
“We should investigate carefully to assess whether this fits into the technical definition [of genocide] formulated by international jurists and organisations,” the pope said.
US and Arab mediators are working to prepare a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, sources close to the talks have told Reuters, as strikes continued in Gaza, with medics there saying 44 Palestinians were killed on Thursday.
Mediators at talks in Egypt and Qatar are trying to forge a deal to pause the 14-month-old war that would include a release of hostages seized by Hamas from Israel during the attacks of October 7th, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. – Reuters