Ten children are 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 sat by the body of her daughter who was killed in the blast, with other bodies laid out around her at a nearby hospital.
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?”
Israel’s military said it had struck a militant who took part in the Hamas-led 7 October, 2023, attack. It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review.
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.”
The Deir al-Balah missile strike came as Israeli and Hamas negotiators hold 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 one or two weeks, 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.
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.
Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have killed hundreds of Gazans, 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 to 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 were 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.
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