Israeli strike kills at least 10 children queueing for medical treatment in Gaza
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Israeli strike kills 10 children queuing at Gaza medical clinic, officials say
At least 10 children were among the 16 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike when they were waiting for care outside a medical clinic in Gaza. The strike in Deir al-Balah on Thursday – which aid groups have called a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law’ – comes as ceasefire talks continue to drag on with no immediate deal expected. Israel’s military said it had struck a militant who took part in the Hamas-led 7 October attack. It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review. Israeli and Hamas negotiators held talks with mediators in Qatar over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal aimed at building agreement on a lasting truce. A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that an agreement was not likely to be secured for another week or two. US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Thursday he was hopeful of a deal. The fighting in Gaza has shown no sign of slowing as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with president Donald Trump in Washington.
At least 10 children were among the 16 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike when they were waiting for care outside a medical clinic in Gaza, according to local authorities.
The strike in Deir al-Balah on Thursday – which aid groups have called a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law” – comes as ceasefire talks continue to drag on with no immediate deal expected.
Bodies of women and children lying in pools of blood amid dust and screaming are seen in video footage verified by Reuters, with one clip showing several motionless children lying on a donkey cart.
A distraught mother was pictured sitting by the body of her daughter, who was killed in the blast, with other bodies laid out around her at a nearby hospital.
The mother, Samah al-Nouri, said: “She didn’t do anything, she was innocent, I swear. Her dream was for the war to end and that they announce it today, to go back to school. She was only getting treatment in a medical facility. Why did they kill them?”
open image in gallery Youssef Abd Rabbo weeps at the hospital where the body of his mother Manal was taken together with 10 more people killed in an Israeli strike while they were waiting to receive nutritional supplements at the Project Hope-run medical clinic ( AP )
Israel’s military said it had struck a militant who took part in the Hamas-led 7 October attack. It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review.
The fighting in Gaza has shown no sign of slowing as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with president Donald Trump in Washington this week to work on a US-led ceasefire plan. Hopes for an agreement in the near term appeared to be fading as Mr Netanyahu prepared to return to Israel.
Mr Netanyahu is holding firm to the idea that Hamas must be destroyed, while Hamas wants a complete end to the war following the proposed 60-day truce.
US-based Project HOPE said the strike had hit right outside its Altayara health clinic. “Horrified and heartbroken cannot properly communicate how we feel anymore,” the aid group said in a statement.
The aid group’s president and CEO, Rabih Torbay, said: “Project HOPE’s health clinics are a place of refuge in Gaza where people bring their small children, women access pregnancy and postpartum care, people receive treatment for malnutrition, and more. Yet, this morning, innocent families were mercilessly attacked as they stood in line waiting for the doors to open.
“Horrified and heartbroken cannot properly communicate how we feel anymore. This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza, even as ceasefire talks continue. This cannot continue. Project HOPE urgently calls for an immediate ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access, and a dramatic scale-up of aid to meet the urgent needs of Gaza’s civilian population.”
Gaza’s Nasser Hospital reported a total of 21 deaths in airstrikes in the southern town of Khan Younis and the nearby coastal area of Muwasi. It said three children and their mother, as well as two additional women, were among the dead.
The Deir al-Balah missile strike came as Israeli and Hamas negotiators held talks with mediators in Qatar over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal aimed at building agreement on a lasting truce.
A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that an agreement was not likely to be secured for another week or two, however, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Thursday he was hopeful of a deal.
“I think we’re closer, and I think perhaps we’re closer than we’ve been in quite a while,” Mr Rubio told reporters at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia.
open image in gallery Smoke and fire rise to the sky following an Israeli bombardment on the northern Gaza Strip ( AP )
Several rounds of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have failed to produce a breakthrough since the Israeli military resumed its campaign in March following a previous ceasefire.
Over the past 24 hours, massive explosions in Gaza sent plumes of smoke up the sky and were visible from the border with Israel.
On Thursday, the Israeli military announced that a soldier was killed in Khan Younis a day earlier after militants burst out of an underground tunnel and tried to abduct him. The soldier was shot and killed, while troops in the area shot the militants, hitting several of them, the military said.
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks, one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months, putting additional public pressure on Mr Netanyahu to end the war.
The war began after Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza, many of them civilians, and injured thousands, according to local health authorities, putting an enormous strain on the enclave’s few remaining hospitals.
Dwindling fuel supplies risk further disruption in the semi-functioning hospitals, including incubators at the neonatal unit of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, doctors there said.
“We are forced to place four, five or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator,” said Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, the hospital director, adding that premature babies are now in a critical condition.
An Israeli military official said that fuel destined for hospitals and other humanitarian facilities was let into the enclave on Wednesday and on Thursday.
However, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that far more fuel was needed to keep essential life-saving and life-sustaining services operating.
Meanwhile, Israel began demolitions on Thursday of more than a dozen buildings in the central city of Bat Yam, which saw the deadliest Iranian missile strike during the 12-day Israel-Iran war.
Nine people were killed, including five members of the same family, in Bat Yam. The family were Ukrainian refugees who fled the war and came to Israel for medical treatment, according to Israeli media.
Bat Yam mayor Tzvika Brot said the strike left 2,000 people – more than 1 per cent of the city’s population – homeless. Many are now living at hotels.
“We’re going to demolish 20 buildings, but we’re going to build them better, stronger, and there will be much more Israeli families running around here. That will be the best answer to our enemies,” he added.
A 55-year-old Palestinian man was killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Thursday. The Israeli military said the man was shot after stabbing a soldier in the village of Rumana. The soldier suffered moderate wounds.
(Additional reporting from agencies)
Nearly 800 killed at Gaza food hubs and aid convoy routes since end of May, UN says
At least 798 people have been killed while seeking food at distribution points operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The GHF, proposed by Israel as an alternative to the UN aid system in Gaza, has been almost universally condemned by rights groups for its violation of principles of humanitarian impartiality. On Friday, at least 10 people were killed and more than 60 injured when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd in Rafah, southern Gaza. Doctors Without Borders said its teams in Gaza were witnessing “a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition”, with the number of cases at its Gaza City clinic nearly quadrupling over the past two months. At least 15 Palestinians were killed overnight and on Friday by Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza, including a strike on a school serving as a refugee shelter. Israeli forces withdrew from the surrounding areas in the morning, but warned the hospital only had enough fuel for the next 48 hours unless new supplies arrived. Already, air-conditioning had to be shut off in the hospital to preserve power, amid the sweltering summer heat.
The GHF, proposed by Israel as an alternative to the UN aid system in Gaza, has been almost universally condemned by rights groups for its violation of principles of humanitarian impartiality and what they have said could be complicity in war crimes.
“Up until the seventh of July, we’ve recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys,” the OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
Israel backed the GHF after claiming that Hamas diverted aid from the UN-led aid system, a claim for which the UN said there was no evidence. The private company employs American mercenaries to oversee four food distribution zones, as opposed to the previous 400 non-militarised zones run under the UN system.
The GHF said the UN figures were “false and misleading” and denied that deadly incidents occurred at its sites. “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys,” a GHF spokesperson said.
In Gaza, the GHF has become infamous for the near-daily shootings of people seeking food who have queued to receive meals since the group started operating in early May. Palestinians seeking food have to navigate a complicated set of instructions and stick to specific routes, as well as walk long distances to access the food sites. Even then there is no guarantee they will be safe.
On Friday medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its teams in Gaza were witnessing “a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition”, with the number of cases at its Gaza City clinic nearly quadrupling over the past two months.
On Friday, at least 10 people were killed and more than 60 injured when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd in Rafah, southern Gaza, according to Ahmad al-Farra, the head of paediatrics at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which received the dead and wounded.
At least 15 Palestinians were killed overnight and on Friday by Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza, including a strike on a school serving as a refugee shelter.
“The situation in the hospital was like it always is during massacres: extreme overcrowding, shortage of medical supplies and medicines, and a very high number of injured compared to the number of doctors,” saidFarra.
Treatment units were set up outside the hospital to cope with the influx of patients as hallways inside filled with the wounded.
The situation in the hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operating in southern Gaza, was made more difficult after the Israeli military operated in the surrounding areas overnight.
Doctors reported shells landing nearby and heavy gunfire on the outskirts of the hospital, with a number of patients arriving with gunshot wounds.
The areas around the hospital were filled with encampments for displaced people and witnesses said Israeli forces had stationed tanks and fired teargas at tents. Two residents reported Israeli soldiers in a nearby cemetery, while one said they saw the soldiers exhuming bodies there.
View image in fullscreen Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp and adjacent cemetery after a reported incursion by the Israeli military in Khan Younis. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Israeli forces withdrew from the surrounding areas in the morning, but Farra warned the hospital only had enough fuel for the next 48 hours unless new supplies arrived. Already, air-conditioning had to be shut off in the hospital to preserve power, amid the sweltering summer heat.
Nahla Abu Qursheen, a 35-year-old mother of four who fled the tanks on Thursday, said those who did return to the encampment found their tents destroyed. Pictures sent to the Guardian showed ruined tents amid deep furrows in the ground on Friday.
“I still don’t know what happened to our tent. We are still here on the street. Last night was very difficult – missiles and shelling. My children slept on top of each other, just to fit under a single piece of cloth,” Qursheen said, exhausted from sleeping in the street.
Israel has intensified its airstrikes on Gaza over the last week, as negotiators report a ceasefire deal is in sight, but not yet achieved.
The US president, Donald Trump, said on Wednesday he was optimistic a deal was possible this week or next, during the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington. Hamas reportedly agreed to release 10 hostages of the 50 that remain, during the two-month ceasefire period.
Qatari mediators have warned a ceasefire will take time, as key stumbling blocks remain. Hamas wants assurances that Israel will not restart fighting as it did in mid-March after the first Gaza ceasefire, while Israel is seeking the complete expulsion of Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has floated the proposal of relocating the population to a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza, which legal experts have described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity.
Juliette Touma, the communications director for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said such a plan would worsen the humanitarian crisis and forcibly displace people in Gaza.
The war in Gaza started after Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages on 7 October 2023. More than 57,000 people have been killed during Israel’s 21 months of military operations there.
As negotiations drag on, people in Gaza say they are losing hope.
“They say there is a truce, they say! Every day they say it will end today or tomorrow, but it’s all lies. Wake up and stop this war. Enough of the death, the hunger and the constant displacement,” Qursheen said.
Gaza: Israeli Strike Kills About 10 Children Queueing For Medical Treatment
An Israeli strike has reportedly killed at least 15 people, including 10 children, as they queued outside a medical point in central Gaza. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas terrorist who had participated in the 7 October 2023 attack, but “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals” and that the incident was under review. Palestinian Health Ministry has raised an alarm that Israeli strikes and gunfire have killed 67 other people across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours. Israeli tanks and bulldozers advancing towards encampments hosting displaced people south-west of Khan Younis, with Israeli soldiers opening fire and throwing teargas at the encampments. People began to flee the area amid the attacks, carrying mattresses and whatever belongings they could take with them amid scorching heat. About 500 Palestinians have so far been shot dead by Israeli forces while trying to access food distribution sites run by the US- and Israeli-backed logistics group, the Gaza Humanitarism Foundation (GHF)
The uptick in Israeli bombing came as negotiators said a Gaza ceasefire deal was in sight, but not yet achieved.
Medical sources disclosed that the strike on Thursday morning hit families waiting for nutritional supplements and medical treatment in front of a medical point in Deir al-Balah.
The Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), Project Hope, which runs the facility, said operations at the clinic had been suspended until further notice.
According to the NGO’s Chief Executive, Rabih Torbay, “This morning, innocent families were mercilessly attacked as they stood in line waiting for the doors to open. This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
But reacting to the unfortunate incident, the Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas terrorist who had participated in the 7 October 2023 attack, but “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals” and that the incident was under review.
“What was our fault? What was the fault of the children?” asked 35-year-old Mohammed Abu Ouda, who had been waiting for supplies when the strike happened.
“I saw a mother hugging her child on the ground, both motionless, they were killed instantly”, he said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Health Ministry (PHM) has raised an alarm that Israeli strikes and gunfire have killed at least 67 other people across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.
According to the Ministry, those who died include 15 people in five separate strikes in Gaza City.
On Wednesday, Hamas agreed to release 10 hostages in exchange for a ceasefire and the US President, Donald Trump, expressed optimism for a ceasefire deal, saying there was a “very good chance” of a deal being reached this week or next.
Qatar, which is helping to mediate the indirect ceasefire talks, cautioned that a deal could take time, as there are still key stumbling blocks. Israel is demanding that it be allowed to resume military activity in Gaza after the ceasefire, while Hamas wants assurances that Israel will not restart fighting.
On Thursday afternoon in Washington, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said if the two sides reach agreements on the US 60-day truce plan, Israel will begin negotiations on a permanent ceasefire. He reiterated Israel’s terms for ending the war, including Hamas disarming and no longer ruling Gaza.
A previous ceasefire broke down in March after Israel decided to renew fighting instead of progressing to a second stage of the deal that could have led to a permanent end to the conflict. Israel has demanded the complete disarmament of Hamas and its departure from Gaza, something the militant group has refused.
Residents on Thursday reported Israeli tanks and bulldozers advancing towards encampments hosting displaced people south-west of Khan Younis, with Israeli soldiers opening fire and throwing teargas at the encampments. People began to flee the area amid the attacks, carrying mattresses and whatever belongings they could take with them amid scorching heat.
Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, one of the last functioning hospitals in southern Gaza, reported a large influx of wounded people over the past 24 hours. A picture sent by a member of the medical staff showed Israeli tanks stationed on the edge of tent encampments surrounding the hospital.
The staff member sent a video of a piece of twisted shrapnel that flew into the window of the intensive care unit from a nearby strike, which they said was still hot to the touch.
People drive cargo tricycles stacked high with belongings, as others walk alongside carrying possessions
On Tuesday, Hamas killed five Israeli soldiers, a rare deadly incident, after the militants targeted them with explosive devices in northern Gaza.
Reports indicate that about 500 Palestinians have so far been shot dead by Israeli forces while trying to access food distribution sites run by the US- and Israeli-backed logistics group the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)
Israel backed the GHF after accusing Hamas of stealing aid under the UN aid system, something for which humanitarians say there is little evidence.
Aid groups have condemned the GHF, saying it could be complicit in war crimes and that it violates core principles of humanitarianism.
However, the GHF is claiming to have provided more than 69m meals and that other organisations “stand by helplessly as their aid is looted”.
Amid the claims and counter claims, a Civil Defence official told AFP that least three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while trying to access a distribution centre in Rafah. – With Agence France-Presse
At least 66 including 10 children killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, hospitals and aid workers say
At least 66 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Thursday. This includes at least 15 people queuing for nutritional supplements in front of a clinic. The Israeli Defence Forces said it had struck a “Hamas terrorist” The latest strikes come as Israeli negotiators in Doha continue talks with Hamas on a ceasefire, the release of hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid.
This includes at least 15 people queuing for nutritional supplements in front of a clinic in central Gaza, of which 10 were children, the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah said.
Project Hope, the aid group that runs the clinic, described the attack as a violation of international law. According to the US-based organisation, those gathered were waiting to receive treatment for malnutrition and infections when the strike took place.
“This morning, innocent families were mercilessly attacked as they stood in line waiting for the doors to open,” Project Hope’s CEO Rabih Torbay said.
“Angry, horrified and heartbroken cannot properly communicate how we feel anymore.”
The Israeli Defence Forces said it had struck a “Hamas terrorist” and that it regretted any harm to civilians. The Israeli military added that the incident was under review.
The latest strikes come as Israeli negotiators in Doha continue talks with Hamas on a ceasefire, the release of hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump this week to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire and the situation in Gaza.
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Hamas took 251 people as hostages.
A subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
The Israeli military says 890 of its soldiers have died since the start of the war.
Children Queuing for Aid Among 66 Killed by Israeli Forces in Gaza
At least 82 people have been killed across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. One-year-old boy who had spoken his first words just hours before the strike was one of the victims. The clinic had been providing treatment for malnutrition, infections, and illness. UNICEF condemned the attack as ‘a blatant violation of international humanitarian law’ Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 67 other people, including 15 people in five separate attacks in Gaza City. On Thursday, residents reported tanks and bulldozers advancing toward displacement encampments southwest of Khan Younis, opening fire and deploying tear gas.
The clinic, run by US-based charity ‘Project Hope’, had been providing treatment for malnutrition, infections, and illness. Following the strike, Project Hope announced the suspension of operations at the facility until further notice. Its president and CEO, Rabih Torbay, condemned the attack as “a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Among the victims was a one-year-old boy who had reportedly spoken his first words just hours before the strike, according to UNICEF. His mother was critically injured.
“No parent should have to face such tragedy,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director.
“The killing of families trying to access life-saving aid is unconscionable.”
Eyewitnesses described scenes of terror and devastation.
“Suddenly, we heard the sound of a drone approaching, and then the explosion happened,” said Yousef Al-Aydi, 30, who was waiting in line.
“The ground shook beneath our feet, and everything around us turned into blood and deafening screams,” said Muhammad Abu Ouda, 33 recounting the chaos at the clinic.
“I saw a mother hugging her child on the ground, both motionless – they were killed instantly.”
“What was our fault? What was the fault of the children?” asked Abu Ouda.
Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 67 other people, including 15 people in five separate attacks in Gaza City.
The war continues to escalate despite renewed diplomatic efforts. On Wednesday, Hamas agreed to release 10 hostages in exchange for a ceasefire, but negotiations remain stalled. A previous truce collapsed in March, when Israel resumed fighting instead of progressing toward a second phase of the deal that could have led to a permanent cessation of hostilities. Israel has demanded the disarmament of Hamas and its removal from Gaza, which the group has rejected.
On the ground, Israeli military operations are expanding. On Thursday, residents reported tanks and bulldozers advancing toward displacement encampments southwest of Khan Younis, opening fire and deploying tear gas. Families fled in panic, carrying mattresses and personal belongings under the scorching summer heat.
With more than two million people trapped in Gaza under siege and facing severe humanitarian collapse, the strike on a medical aid center has drawn widespread international condemnation and further underscored the urgent need for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access.