Israeli missile hits Gaza children collecting water, IDF blames malfunction
Gaza
on Sunday, local officials said, in an
Israeli
missile strike which the military said missed its intended target.
The
Israeli military
said it had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant in the area but that a malfunction had caused the missile to fall 'dozens of metres from the target'.
'The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians,' it said in a statement, adding that the incident was under review.
The strike hit a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, killing six children and injuring 17 others, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al-Awda Hospital.
Water shortages in Gaza have worsened sharply in recent weeks, with fuel shortages causing desalination and sanitation facilities to close, making people dependent on collection centres where they can fill up their plastic containers.
[
Israeli airstrikes and shootings kill at least 52 Palestinians in Gaza Strip, hospital officials say
Opens in new window
]
In another attack, Palestinian media reported that a prominent hospital consultant was among 12 people killed by an Israeli strike midmorning on a busy market in Gaza City.
Gaza's health ministry said on Sunday that more than 58,000 people had been killed since the start of the war between Israel and
Hamas
in October 2023, with 139 people added to the death toll over the past 24 hours.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its tally, but says more than half of those killed are women and children.
Talks aimed at securing a ceasefire appeared to be deadlocked, with the two sides divided over the extent of an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources said at the weekend.
The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire were continuing in Doha, but optimism that surfaced last week of a possible deal has largely faded, with both sides accusing each other of intransigence.
The war began on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages there are believed to still be alive.
Israel's campaign against Hamas has displaced almost the entire population of more than two million people, but Gazans say nowhere is safe in the coastal enclave.
Early on Sunday morning, a missile hit a house in Gaza City where a family had moved to after receiving an evacuation order from their home in the southern outskirts.
'My aunt, her husband and the children, are gone. What is the fault of the children who died in an ugly bloody massacre at dawn?' said Anas Matar, standing in the rubble of the building.
'They came here, and they were hit. There is no safe place in Gaza,' he said. – Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Scores more killed by bombs and starvation in Gaza as Trump vows food aid
Donald Trump acknowledged 'real starvation' in Gaza as local health officials confirmed at least 14 more Palestinians, including two children, had died from hunger and malnutrition in the besieged territory. The US president, speaking in Scotland on Monday, vowed the US would set up food centres 'with no fences' to feed the starving Palestinians. He dismissed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that there was no starvation in Gaza. Mr Trump added that the US and other nations were already sending aid but urged Netanyahu to ensure it reached those in need. 'I want him to make sure they get the food,' he said. He also called for an end to the war: 'You have to end it.' The latest deaths brought the toll from malnutrition and starvation in Gaza to 147, including 88 children, the Gaza health ministry said. Israeli human rights group B'Tselem labelled the war on Gaza, which has killed over 59,000 people so far, as 'genocide'. Under mounting pressure over the spiralling hunger crisis in Gaza, Israel said over the weekend that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi for 10 hours a day and designate secure routes for aid delivery. International airdrops of aid have also resumed. Aid agencies say the new measures are not enough to counter worsening starvation in the territory. Martin Penner, a spokesperson for the U.N. food agency, told The Associated Press that all 55 of its aid trucks that entered on Sunday were unloaded by crowds before reaching their destination. Another U.N. official said nothing on the ground has changed and no alternative routes were allowed. ADVERTISEMENT Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures. A baby girl died hours after being delivered in a complex emergency cesarean. She had been placed in an incubator and was breathing with assistance from a ventilator, AP footage showed. Her mother, Soad al-Shaer, who had been seven months pregnant with her, was among 12 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house and neighboring tents in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another strike hit a two-story house in Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to the hospital. At least five others were killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza, according to other hospitals. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on most of the strikes. It said it was not aware of one strike in Gaza City during the pause that health officials said killed one person. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas. The daily airstrikes across the territory frequently kill women and children. Images of emaciated children have sparked outrage around the world, including from Israel's close allies. U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called the images of emaciated and malnourished children in Gaza 'terrible.' Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine, to pressure Hamas to free hostages. Israel partially lifted those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead on a new U.S.-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence. Traditional aid providers have encountered a breakdown in law and order surrounding their deliveries. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid shipments, said U.N. agencies collected 120 trucks for distribution on Sunday and that another 180 trucks had been allowed into Gaza. The United Nations and aid groups say the territory needs 500-600 trucks a day to meet its needs. Israel's blockade and military operations have destroyed nearly all food production in the territory of roughly 2 million Palestinians. Also on Monday, two air force planes from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped 17 tons of humanitarian aid in Gaza — an amount that would fill less than a single aid truck. Aid groups say airdrops are often ineffective and dangerous, with falling parcels landing on people or in combat zones or other dangerous areas. 'At the moment, 2 million people are trapped in a tiny piece of land, which makes up just 12% of the whole strip — if anything lands in this area, people will inevitably be injured,' said Jean Guy Vataux, emergency coordinator in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders. 'If the airdrops land in areas where Israel has issued displacement orders, people will be forced to enter militarized zones — once again risking their lives for food,' he added. The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned that airdrops are 'expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians,' and would not address the crisis. At least 25 people were killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid from a truck convoy passing through the southern Gaza Strip, according to health officials and witnesses. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Four children were among those killed, according to records at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. The shooting occurred in a military corridor Israel has carved out between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah. It was not immediately clear who had supplied the convoy. Survivors at the hospital said Israeli forces had fired toward the crowds. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid since May, according to the U.N. human rights office, witnesses and local health officials. The Israeli military has said it only fires warning shots at people who approach its forces. The Awda hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of seven Palestinians who it said were killed by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor. The hospital said 20 others were wounded close to the site. GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fares Awad, head of the Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service, said at least five Palestinians were killed and about 30 others were wounded by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid trucks from the Zikim Crossing near Gaza City. Hamas started the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50, and Israel believes that more than half the remaining hostages are dead. Most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Irish Independent
8 hours ago
- Irish Independent
14 more dead of starvation in Gaza as Trump vows food aid
As the death toll from two years of war in Gaza nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gaza health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fuelling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions. Describing starvation in Gaza as real, Mr Trump's assessment put him at odds with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Sunday 'there is no starvation in Gaza' and vowed to fight on against the Palestinian militant group Hamas – a statement he reposted on X yesterday. Mr Trump, speaking during a visit to Scotland, said Israel has a lot of responsibility for aid flows, and that a lot of people could be saved. 'You have a lot of starving people. We're going to set up food centres,' with no fences or boundaries, to ease access, Mr Trump said. The US would work with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, including food and sanitation, he said. A White House spokesperson said additional details on the food centres would be 'forthcoming'. Yesterday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 14 people had died in the past 24 hours of starvation and malnutrition, bringing the war's death toll from hunger to 147, including 88 children, most in just the last few weeks. Israel announced several measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses to fighting in three areas of Gaza, new safe corridors for aid convoys, and airdrops. The decision followed the collapse of ceasefire talks on Friday. Two Israeli defence officials said the international pressure prompted the new Israeli measures, as did the worsening conditions on the ground. UN agencies said a long-term and steady supply of aid was needed. The World Food Programme said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched. Almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments, it said. 'Our target at the moment, every day is to get 100 trucks into Gaza,' WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, Samer AbdelJaber, said. Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the situation is catastrophic. 'At this time, children are dying every single day from starvation, from preventable disease. So time has run out.' Mr Netanyahu has denied any policy of starvation towards Gaza, saying aid supplies would be kept up whether Israel was negotiating a ceasefire or fighting. A spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that Israel had not placed a time limit on the humanitarian pauses in its military operation, a day after UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said that Israel had decided 'to support a one-week scale-up of aid'. 'We hope this pause will last much longer than a week, ultimately turning into a permanent ceasefire,' Mr Fletcher's spokesperson, Eri Kaneko, said. Mr Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Compared to last week, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said, there had only been a 'small uptick' in the amount of aid being transported into Gaza since Israel started the humanitarian pauses. Wessal Nabil, from Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, described the struggle of trying to feed her three children. 'When you go to bed hungry, you wake up hungry. We distract them with anything... to make them calm down,' she told Reuters. 'I call on the world, on those with merciful hearts, the compassionate, to look at us with compassion, to be kind to us, to stand with us until aid comes in and ensure it reaches us.' In his statement on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said Israel would continue to fight until it achieved the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas and the destruction of its military and governing capabilities. Mr Trump said Hamas had become difficult to deal with in recent days, but he was talking with Mr Netanyahu about 'various plans' to free hostages still held in the enclave. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked communities across the border in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. The Gaza health ministry said that 98 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours. Some of the trucks that made it into Gaza were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, witnesses said.
Irish Times
12 hours ago
- Irish Times
Israel's pause on attacks and partial lifting of Gaza blockade won't end suffering in region of mass starvation
Israel 's tactical pause on Gaza attacks and partial lifting of humanitarian aid blockades there is unlikely to end acute suffering faced by 2.3 million Palestinian residents. As these pauses are expected to last a week or so, the United Nations and aid agencies are under pressure to flood Gaza with food, bottled water, medicine and fuel needed to sustain the population before Israel resumes its full-scale offensive and blockade. To carry out such a mission, aid agencies need the co-operation of Israel, which inspects all lorry loads entering Gaza and determines when and where they are allowed to make deliveries. Last weekend, Israel permitted pallets of aid to be parachuted into Gaza by Jordan and Britain, but this only amounted to a tiny amount of what is needed . Although 120 trucks carrying aid were allowed into Gaza on Sunday and 180 on Monday, 500-600 lorry loads a day are needed. It is vital that more aid is allowed through to make up for the extreme deficit of supplies. READ MORE Starvation is rife in Gaza following Israel's ban on aid agencies entering the region. Minimal food aid has been provided since May 27th by the controversial US-Israeli sponsored Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). [ A father in Gaza: Our children are dying as the world watches. We don't want your pity – we want action Opens in new window ] According to UN estimates, Israeli troops have killed 1,000 Palestinians and wounded thousands while they tried to access three GHF distribution sites. UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, operated 400 aid sites throughout Gaza before Israel's blockade. Starvation is so widespread and so severe that a significant increase of special food to treat acute malnutrition is urgently needed. Starving people cannot absorb normal meals. World Food Programme emergency director Ross Smith has warned that a quarter of Gaza's population is faced with famine-like conditions and nearly 100,000 women and children require urgent treatment for severe malnutrition. He said: 'People are dying from lack of humanitarian assistance every day and we are seeing this escalate day by day.' To escape long-term malnutrition, Gazans need fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and chicken which are not currently supplied. Aid parcels include sugar, salt, flour, tea, oil, lentils, fava beans and rice. Most of Gaza's people have been repeatedly displaced. Almost all families in the region live in tents and do not have the means to cook rice. There is no wood in Gaza, forcing people to burn rubbish and plastic, which can worsen health issues. Breaking the Silence, an Israeli non-governmental organisation established by former members of the Israeli Defence Force veterans, said that the new arrangements are 'the latest manifestation of a twisted logic that leverages food as a means of control, not one with an actual intent to disperse aid'.
