By Nidal al-Mughrabi CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed at least 27 people on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said, as international mediators stepped up efforts to seal a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

Palestinian medics say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip, including two infants and a woman. One strike hit a home in the central city of Deir al-Balah, killing two men and a woman,

At least 19 Palestinians, including eight children, were killed in Israeli air strikes in southern Gaza overnight, local health officials say. A mother and her four children were reportedly killed when a tent camp for displaced people in al-Mawasi was hit, while another a couple and their children died in the nearby city of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military said it targeted militants who had taken part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, without providing evidence.

Gaza's civil defence agency said a series of Israeli air strikes killed at least 14 people on Wednesday, in the latest violence to ravage the already devastated Palestinian territory.Five people were killed and several wounded in an air strike on the house of the Barghout family in the Zeitun neighbourhood of Gaza City,

Gaza Israel and Hamas are inching closer to a deal to pause their 15-month war in Gaza and enact a hostages-for-prisoners swap, sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The National on Wednesday.

After a 64-day operation in Gaza, Israel's Kfir Brigade has withdrawn, having eliminated over 300 Hamas fighters, including top commanders, and destroyed critical Hamas infrastructure, such as rocket launchers and tunnels.

Israeli forces launched airstrikes in the Shejaia suburb of Gaza City, with local medics reporting at least eight fatalities. The Israeli Defense Forces stated that the strikes were aimed at locations used by militants for rocket launches into Israel.