Children killed collecting water in Gaza, medical officials say, as ceasefire talks hit sticking points

Egypt Independent

2 days ago

CNN — Several children were killed in an Israeli airstrike at a water distribution point in central Gaza Sunday, health officials said, one of several deadly incidents in the territory that come as ceasefire talks in Doha falter.
Hopes had been high for the latest negotiations but after days of negotiations the two sides accused each other of blocking an agreement while on the ground there has been no let-up in Israel's military campaign, which resumed when the last ceasefire collapsed in March.
The Palestinian health ministry reported Sunday that 139 bodies had been brought to Gaza hospitals in the past 24 hours, with a number of victims still under the rubble. The number is the highest reported since July 2 and brings the total number of people killed since October 7, 2023 to 58,026, according to the ministry.
That was before the Israeli airstrike Sunday killed six children and four others at a water distribution point in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital. Video from the chaotic scene showed multiple casualties including children amid buckets and water carriers.
The Israeli military acknowledged that an airstrike targeting an 'Islamic Jihad terrorist' had gone wrong and the 'munition fell dozens of meters from the target,' saying the incident was under review.
Also in central Gaza on Sunday, at least 12 people were killed and more than 40 injured when an Israeli airstrike targeted a crowded junction, according to Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, Director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex central Gaza City. The dead included a prominent doctor, Ahmad Qandeel, described by the health ministry as 'one of Gaza's most respected medical professionals.'
'Conditions on the ground are worse than they've ever been,' the acting director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Sam Rose, told CNN on Monday. 'There's a certain tragic and horrific and numbing inevitability about this that the longer it goes on, the worse it will get.'
He said Palestinians in Gaza are forced to make 'impossible choices' between starvation or risking death to secure aid.
A boy leans over the body of his cousin after he was killed in an Israeli strike that hit Nuseirat in central Gaza on July 13.
Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images
Sunday's heavy toll followed several deadly incidents Saturday. The ministry said 27 were killed and many more injured when Israeli troops opened fire on people trying to obtain aid from a distribution site near southern Rafah run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
GHF denied the claim, saying 'there were no incidents at or in the immediate vicinity of our sites' on Saturday.
The Israeli military also denied that anyone was injured by gunfire from its troops in the vicinity of the site but said it continued to review the reports. It told CNN Sunday it had no further comment.
However, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its field hospital near the site had received 132 patients suffering from weapon-related injuries. Twenty-five were declared dead on arrival and six more died after being admitted – the largest number of fatalities since the hospital began operations in May 2024, according to the ICRC.
'This situation is unacceptable. The alarming frequency and scale of these mass casualty incidents underscore the horrific conditions civilians in Gaza are enduring,' the ICRC added.
Nearly 800 Palestinians were killed while trying to access aid in Gaza between late May and July 7, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), when the GHF began operating.
Elsewhere in Gaza, 13 people were killed Saturday in airstrikes in Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City, in the north of the territory, according to Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital. Salmiya told CNN that 40 injured people had been admitted. Geolocated video showed at least one child among the victims.
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday it had destroyed weapons and tunnels used by Hamas in northern Gaza and the air force had carried out attacks on more than 150 targets across the Gaza Strip, including 'booby-trapped buildings, weapons depots, anti-tank missile and sniper positions.'
Talks 'stall,' Hamas says
The spike in casualties in Gaza comes as talks on agreeing a new ceasefire deal and hostage continue in Doha, with optimism having faded that an agreement can be quickly reached.
US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said he's meeting with Qatari officials Sunday on the sidelines of the Club World Cup football match in New Jersey as he remains 'hopeful' for the prospect of a Gaza ceasefire.
Despite days of proximity talks in Doha between Israel and Hamas, significant gaps remain between the warring parties.
An Israeli source familiar with the matter said last week that the outstanding issue was where the Israeli military would redeploy in Gaza once the ceasefire takes effect. The latest proposal called for the military to withdraw from parts of northern Gaza on the first day of a ceasefire and from parts of southern Gaza on the seventh day.
The detailed maps were left to negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and that appears to be the main sticking point.
Smoke rises into the sky following an Israeli attack in northern Gaza, as seen from southern Israel, on July 10.
Leo Correa/AP
The talks had 'stalled,' a senior Hamas official told CNN on Saturday, claiming Israel had added new conditions, 'the latest being new deployment maps for the Israeli army's presence in the Gaza Strip.'
In a video message released Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israel accepted the latest ceasefire plan presented by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff – but that Hamas had rejected it.
'We accepted the deal, the Witkoff Deal, and even later the version that the mediators proposed to us — we accepted that too. Hamas rejected it,' Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said Hamas wants to stay in Gaza 'so it can rearm and attack us again and again.'
He said he was determined to bring the hostages back and to defeat Hamas.
'What we need to do is the right thing: insist on the release of the hostages and insist on the second objective of the war in Gaza — the elimination of Hamas and ensuring that Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel.'
'I won't compromise on these missions,' Netanyahu added.
Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement Sunday, accusing Netanyahu of creating a 'false impression' that a comprehensive deal is unattainable, contrary to public will.
'Anyone who sabotages such an agreement is willfully acting against the Israeli people for political survival,' they warned, adding, 'That is how history will remember him.'
Recent opinion surveys in Israel suggest overwhelming approval for a deal that would end the war and return all the hostages, living and dead. A poll for Israel's Channel 12 Friday said that 74% of the public believes that Israel should end the war in Gaza in exchange for the return of all the abductees in one step, with only 8% supporting the phased deal that the government is trying to promote.