Israeli air strike kills nine in Gaza during ceasefire disputes

At least nine Palestinians including three local journalists were killed on Saturday in an Israeli air strike on Gaza's northern Beit Lahiya town, the local health ministry said, as Hamas leaders held ceasefire talks with mediators in Cairo.

Several were critically injured as the strike hit a car, with casualties inside and outside the vehicle, health officials told Reuters.

Witnesses and fellow journalists said the people in the car were on a mission for a charity called Al-Khair Foundation in Beit Lahiya, and they were accompanied by journalists and photographers when the strike hit them. At least three local journalists were among the dead, according to Palestinian media.

The Israeli military initially said it had struck two "terrorists" operating a drone that posed a threat to its forces and several people who collected the drone equipment.

In another statement it named six men that it said were members of Hamas who it said had been killed in the incident. Some of who had operated "under the cover of journalists", it said.

The incident underscores the fragility of the January 19 ceasefire agreement that halted large-scale fighting in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian health officials say dozens of people have been killed by Israeli fire despite the truce.

Salama Marouf, the head of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, denied the army's allegations.

"The team was made of civilians and worked in an area near a shelter on a mission sponsored by a charity. They were not in a prohibited area and didn't pose any danger of any kind to the occupation army," Marouf said in a statement.