A wounded Palestinian man is carried into Al-Awda Hospital after an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on July 17, 2026. (Credit: Eyad Baba/AFP)
An Israeli airstrike killed eight people near a market in central Gaza on Friday, according to Gaza's civil defense agency and a local hospital.
The strike hit the Al-Balata market area in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where a funeral procession was taking place, according to Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza's civil defense agency. Al-Awda Hospital said it received eight bodies and treated 22 wounded.
The Israeli military confirmed carrying out the strike, claiming, without evidence, that it had targeted a cell belonging to the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. It added that it was aware of reports that civilians had been harmed and was reviewing the outcome of the strike, something it claims to do often without any follow-through or closure.
Gaza's civil defense agency and hospitals also reported that five other people, including two women, were killed in separate Israeli strikes on Friday. The man whose funeral was underway at the time of the market strike was among those killed in the previous strike.
Israel has been violating the Gaza cease-fire incessantly since October, while negotiations on a permanent end to the war have stalled.
Before Friday's reported deaths, Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 1,127 Palestinians had been killed by Israel since the cease-fire took effect. The United Nations considers its casualty figures reliable.
AFP could not independently verify the casualty figures because of unjustified Israeli restrictions on media access and reporting in Gaza.
