Children fetching water killed in Israeli strike in Gaza, emergency officials say

Ten people, including six children, have been killed in an Israeli air strike while waiting to fill water containers in central Gaza on Sunday, emergency service officials say.

Their bodies were sent to Nuseirat’s al-Awda Hospital, which also treated 16 injured people, seven of them children, according to a doctor there.

Eyewitnesses said a drone fired a missile at a crowd of people queuing with empty jerry cans next to a water tanker in the heart of the al-Nuseirat refugee camp.

The Israeli military has been asked to comment.

Unverified footage shared online after the strike showed bloodied children and lifeless bodies, with screams of panic and desperation.

Residents rushed to the scene and transported the wounded using private vehicles and donkey carts.

The strike came as Israeli aerial attacks across the Gaza Strip have escalated.

A spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency said 19 other Palestinians had been killed on Sunday, in three separate strikes on residential buildings in central Gaza and Gaza City.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 57,882 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced multiple times.

More than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed. The healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.

This week, for the first time in 130 days, 75,000 litres of fuel was allowed into Gaza – “far from enough to meet the daily needs of the population and vital civilian aid operations”, the United Nations said.

Nine UN agencies warned on Saturday that Gaza’s fuel shortage had reached “critical levels”, and if fuel ran out, it would affect hospitals, water systems, sanitation networks and bakeries.

“Hospitals are already going dark, maternity, neonatal and intensive care units are failing, and ambulances can no longer move,” the UN said.