IDF strike kills Gazan children awaiting food supplements, health officials say

Boston Globe

10-07-2025

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Eyad Amawi, director of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, said his facility had received at least 17 dead and more than 30 others injured by midmorning. Others were taken to local field hospitals, Amawi said.
'Those people were trying to feed their children,' he said.
The IDF said that it was 'aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals in the area,' and that it was reviewing the incident.
'The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,' it added. It did not respond to questions about what weapon was used, what steps were taken to minimize civilian harm, or why the target was struck while near a crowd of women and children.
The Project HOPE clinic, which Abutaha said screens children for malnutrition and provides them and lactating women with nutritional supplements, is on the front lines of efforts to treat fast-rising rates of malnutrition amid widespread hunger in the Israeli-besieged Strip.
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Malnutrition among children has been increasing at an 'alarming rate' in recent months, with more than 5,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years diagnosed with acute malnutrition in May alone, according to UNICEF.
Only at one other point of the war, in December, has malnutrition been worse. But malnutrition rates have risen to similar levels just four months since the end of the most recent ceasefire, which lasted two months and saw a surge in aid before it collapsed in March.
Dua al-Hazarin, a local journalist, said in a phone interview that she was passing through the area when the strike hit near the clinic.
'The scene was so painful, more than you can imagine,' she said. '[Dead] children in the middle of the street.'
In footage she took and shared on social media, dust rises from the streets as the high-pitched wails and screams of children ring out. Women gather around the body of a child with blood seeping from his head. Elsewhere, bodies lie on the ground with pools of blood around them. One bloodied little girl is motionless in a pink dress. Next to her is a man hunched over with blood seeping from his head and another woman, both lying still, their conditions unclear. The camera continues to pan over more bodies, many of them children, collapsed across the pavement.
Because of Gaza's acute fuel crisis — no fuel has entered the Strip since the beginning of March, according to the United Nations — Thursday's victims had to be brought to the hospital on carts pulled by animals, because cars and ambulances were not available, Hazarin said.
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At al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the fuel shortage was complicating efforts to care for the victims, Amawi said.
As of Thursday, fuel reserves fell so low that the hospital could no longer run generators that were keeping lights on, and electricity was cut, he said. The hospital was using solar energy to run the most vital machines, Amawi said, but described it as only a short-term fix.
'The casualties are in a complex situation,' he said. 'They need more intensive medical intervention, more than is available here with this condition.'
Awami also shared an image of a CT scan of one of the hospital's patients, whom he identified as 11-year-old Eman Abu Shalouf. She has a 'severe traumatic brain injury,' Awami said, adding that she fears she will die.
In images shared by Awami and Mohammad al-Haj, spokesman for al-Aqsa Hospital, multiple bloodied and bandaged children are cared for in the same hospital bed. In another photo, a young girl is hooked up to machines while lying on the floor.
Local photojournalist Mohammed Fayeq told The Washington Post that the scene in the hospital was 'truly catastrophic' as casualties poured in. In photos he shared on social media, five dead children covered in blood are lined up on the hospital floor. The little girl in a pink dress appears among them. In a video he took, injured children wail as they are treated on the bloodied hospital floor.
The strike came amid intensified diplomatic efforts to end the war, which in 21 months has killed more than 57,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority killed are women and children.
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European officials on Thursday struck a new deal with Israel to allow desperately needed food and fuel into Gaza. The agreement could result in 'more crossings open, aid and food trucks entering Gaza, repair of vital infrastructure and protection of aid workers,' said Kaja Kallas, the 27-member EU's top diplomat.
'We count on Israel to implement every measure agreed,' she said in a post on social media.