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.

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,