
Israeli attack on Gaza water distribution site kills at least eight, including children
The Israeli military said the missile had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant in the area but that a malfunction had caused it to fall "dozens of metres from the target".
Medics say those killed in a strike that hit a water distribution point included a 12-year-old. Source: AP / Abdel Kareem Hana Hours later, 12 people were killed by an Israeli strike on a market in Gaza City, including a prominent hospital consultant, Ahmad Qandil, Palestinian media reported. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack. Gaza's health ministry said on Sunday that more than 58,000 people had been killed since October 2023, with 139 people added to the death toll over the past 24 hours.
The ministry says over half of those killed are women and children.
Ceasefire talks stalled Negotiations 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. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to convene ministers late on Sunday to discuss the latest developments in the talks, an Israeli official said.
The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire are being held in Doha, but optimism that surfaced last week of a looming deal has largely faded, with both sides accusing each other of intransigence.
Israel's army says a missile malfunctioned and missed its target, hitting a water distribution site. Source: AAP / AP / Alex Brandon Netanyahu in a video he posted on Telegram on Sunday, said Israel would not back down from its core demands - releasing all the hostages still in Gaza, destroying Hamas and ensuring Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are believed to still be alive. Netanyahu and his ministers were also set to discuss a plan on Sunday to move hundreds of thousands of Gazans to the southern area of Rafah, in what Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has described as a new "humanitarian city" but which would be likely to draw international criticism for forced displacement. An Israeli source briefed on discussions in Israel said that the plan was to establish the complex in Rafah during the ceasefire, if it is reached.
On Saturday, a Palestinian source familiar with the truce talks said that Hamas rejected withdrawal maps which Israel proposed, because they would leave around 40 per cent of the territory under Israeli control, including all of Rafah.
Israel's bombardment of Gaza has displaced almost the entire population of more than 2 million people, but Palestinians there 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.
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SBS Australia
17 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
Israel kills at least 67 Palestinians waiting for UN aid trucks in Gaza, medics say
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ABC News
17 minutes ago
- ABC News
Lowy Institute South-East Asia aid map reveals retreat of US and Europe from Australia's region
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News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Pope urges immediate end to 'barbarity' of Gaza war
Pope Leo XIV slammed the "barbarity" of the war in Gaza on Sunday and urged against the "indiscriminate use of force", just days after a deadly strike by Israel's military on a Catholic church. "I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict," Leo said at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence near Rome. The pope, who spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the morning after Thursday's strike, spoke of his "deep sorrow" for the attack on the Holy Family Church. The church was sheltering around 600 displaced people, the majority of them children and including dozens of people with special needs. Israel expressed "deep sorrow" over the damage and civilian casualties, adding that the military was investigating the strike. "This act, unfortunately, adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza," Leo said on Sunday. "I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations," he added. The Israeli military on Sunday issued an evacuation order for Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip, warning of imminent action against Hamas militants. Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which is now in its 22nd month. The pope also expressed his "sympathy" for the plight of "beloved Middle Eastern Christians" and their "sense of being able to do little in the face of this dramatic situation". ide/bc