Ten Palestinians, including six children, were killed in an Israeli air strike whilst queuing for water in central Gaza on Sunday, according to local emergency service officials.
The victims’ bodies were transported to al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, which treated 16 injured people including seven children, medical sources confirmed. Eyewitnesses reported a drone fired a missile at civilians queuing with empty containers beside a water tanker in al-Nuseirat refugee camp.
The Israeli military acknowledged a “technical error” during a strike targeting an Islamic Jihad operative that caused munitions to fall dozens of metres from the intended target. The Israel Defense Forces said the incident is under review and expressed regret for “any harm to uninvolved civilians.”
According to the BBC, verified footage shows dozens of people assisting injured victims, including children, lying among yellow water containers. BBC analysis confirmed the location approximately 80 metres southwest of Nuseirat Junior High School, near a kindergarten facility.
The strike occurred amid escalating Israeli aerial attacks across Gaza. Gaza’s Civil Defence Agency reported 19 additional Palestinian deaths on Sunday from three separate strikes on residential buildings in central Gaza and Gaza City.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its Rafah field hospital has treated more mass casualty cases in the past six weeks than in the previous 12 months. The facility received 132 patients with weapon-related injuries on Saturday, with 31 fatalities.
The “overwhelming majority” of patients had gunshot wounds, with all responsive individuals reporting they were attempting to access food distribution sites, the ICRC stated. Since new distribution sites opened on 27 May, the hospital has treated over 3,400 weapon-wounded patients and recorded more than 250 deaths.
On Saturday, Nasser hospital reported 24 deaths near an aid distribution site where witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire on people seeking food. The Israeli military denied knowledge of injuries from IDF fire, stating warning shots were fired to disperse perceived threats.
The UN human rights office has recorded 789 aid-related killings, including 615 near US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites operated by US contractors in military zones since 27 May.
Israel launched its Gaza campaign following Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack that killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reports at least 57,882 deaths since the conflict began.
More than 90 percent of Gaza’s homes are estimated damaged or destroyed, with collapsed healthcare, water and sanitation systems creating severe shortages of essential supplies.
(Source: BBC)
Read more:
