Israel has blamed a “technical error” for a missile strike that killed six children collecting water in Gaza.
Witnesses said a drone fired a missile at a crowd of families queuing with empty jerry cans next to a water tanker at Al-Nuseirat refugee camp.
Ten people were killed in total, with a further seven children and nine adults requiring treatment at Al-Awda Hospital. Locals carried the injured away in the back of trucks and on donkey carts.
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The Israeli military said it had been targeting a militant, but a technical error made its munition fall “dozens of metres from the target”.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was aware of the “claim regarding casualties in the area as a result”. The IDF added that it worked to mitigate civilian harm “as much as possible” and “regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians”.
Additionally, health officials said an Israeli strike hit a group of citizens in a street in central Gaza City on Sunday afternoon, killing 11 people and injuring around 30 others.
Among those killed was Dr Ahmed Qandil, a surgeon, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry. He was on his way to work at the Al-Ali Arab Baptist Hospital, which took the casualties and dead after the strike.
In the central town of Zawaida, an Israeli strike on a home killed nine, including two women and three children, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
The Israeli military said it was unaware of a strike on the home but had hit more than 150 targets over the past 24 hours, including what it said were weapons storage facilities, missile launchers and sniping posts.
Israel has said Hamas has embedded its terror infrastructure in civilian areas and safe zones, in addition to hijacking aid sites.
The health ministry has said that more than 58,000 people have died in Gaza during the war, but does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Israel has said more than 21,000 militants have been killed since the start of the war, which was sparked by the Oct 7 2023 Hamas attacks in which around 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 taken hostage.
Ceasefire talks amid the 21-month war remain stalled. It was hoped that a new deal would bring back some of the remaining 50 Israeli hostages and pause the war, which has seen swathes of Gaza razed and two-thirds of its population displaced.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was in Washington last week to meet Donald Trump, the US president, for discussions on a possible ceasefire deal. Israel has insisted on keeping a military presence in the Strip during the truce, to which Hamas will not agree.
Israel has said it will only end the war once Hamas is removed from power and disarmed and the 50 hostages, only half of whom are believed to still be alive, are freed.
In the occupied West Bank, the funeral of Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American who was killed in an attack by Israeli settlers on Saturday, took place on Sunday.
The Palestinian health ministry said Musallet, a Florida native, was killed after being beaten by the settlers. Seifeddine Musalat, 23, was also killed in the attack, and Mohammed al-Shalabi was shot in the chest.
On Sunday, their bodies were carried through the streets of Al-Mazraa a-Sharqiya.
On Saturday, Mr Musallet’s family said they wanted the US State Department to investigate his death and hold the settlers accountable.
Israel’s military said Palestinians hurled rocks at Israelis in the area on Friday, lightly injuring two people and setting off a larger confrontation. Palestinians and rights groups have long accused the military of ignoring settler violence.
