Israel admits 'technical error' in airstrike that kills 6 children
July 13 (UPI) -- Ten people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza on Sunday, including six children who were waiting to fill water containers near a refugee camp, emergency service workers said.
The victims' bodies were taken to Nuseirat's al-Awda Hospital, where 16 other people, including seven children, were treated for their inquiries sustained in the attack, the BBC reported a doctor at the hospital having said.
Witnesses reported seeing a drone fired into a crowd lining up with empty yellow cans next to a water tanker parked about 260 feet from the Nuseirat Jr. High School. A kindergarten also sits nearby.
The Israeli military admitted there had been what it called a "technical error" related to a strike on what it said was an Islamic jihad "terrorist" that caused the explosive to fall yards away from its intended target. The Israel Defense Forces said it is investigating the error.
The IDF acknowledged a "claim regarding casualties in the area" and said it works to minimize civilian casualties to the fullest extent possible, and that it "regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians."
The incident came amid an increasing number of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in recent weeks.
At least 19 other Palestinians were killed in separate attacks on Sunday in three airstrikes on residential buildings in central Gaza and Gaza City, a spokesperson for Gaza's Civil Defense Agency said.
In another attack Sunday, at least nine people were killed in an airstrike, and at least 31 others were shot near an aid distribution site on Saturday,
The death doll in the conflict has surpassed 58,000.
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