ISRAELI strikes across the Gaza Strip today killed over 20 people, including five children, Palestinian medical officials said.

A strike on a school housing displaced people in Gaza City killed at least eight people, including three children, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military claimed it had carried out a precise strike on Hamas militants sheltering there.

A strike on a home in the central city of Deir al-Balah late on Saturday killed at least eight people, including three women and two children, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.

A man and his wife were killed in a strike in the southern city of Khan Younis on Sunday, just after midnight, according to the nearby Nasser Hospital. A strike on a car in Gaza City killed two people, according to the ministry.

Israel and Hamas have recently appeared to draw closer to a ceasefire agreement that would include the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, but several obstacles remain, and the long-running indirect talks have repeatedly stalled.

Israeli politicians accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza, of obstructing the peace negotiations.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said today: “We have nothing left to achieve in Gaza; we need to start preparing for the day after the war and bring back 100 hostages,” he told local media.

“Once the war ends, we can return to Gaza and do what we need to do,” he said. “Now, we need to stop the war and finalise a deal to bring all the hostages back.”

Mr Lapid accused Mr Netanyahu of prolonging the war because peace would lead to his government’s collapse.

Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities allowed a rare visit by the leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, for a mass in Gaza City today as Israeli drones buzzed outside the Holy Family Church.

The visit came a day after Pope Francis denounced Israel’s 14-month barrage of Gaza.

“And with pain I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals,” he said.

“This is cruelty. This is not war.”