66 people died in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory

Gaza City: Gaza’s civil defense agency said eight children — killed as they queued for nutritional supplements outside a health clinic — were among 66 people who died in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory Thursday.

The agency said the children were among 17 victims in a strike on Deir Al-Balah.

According to the UN children’s agency, the dead included a one-year-old boy whose mother said he had spoken his first words just hours earlier. The mother was critically injured, UNICEF added.

“No parent should have to face such tragedy,” UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

“The killing of families trying to access life-saving aid is unconscionable,” she added.

US-based charity Project Hope, which runs the facility, said the victims were waiting for the clinic to open to receive treatment for malnutrition, infections and illness. The charity gave a toll of 15 dead, including 10 children and two women.

Its



president and chief executive Rabih Torbay called the strike “a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”

Yousef Al-Aydi, 30, was among dozens of people — most of them women and children — in the queue.

“Suddenly, we heard the sound of a drone approaching, and then the explosion happened,” he told AFP by phone.

“The ground shook beneath our feet, and everything around us turned into blood and deafening screams.”

Israel has expanded its military operations in Gaza, where the war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million people.

The Israeli military told AFP that it targetted a Hamas militant in Deir Al-Balah who had infiltrated Israel during the group’s October 7, 2023 attack.

It said it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” adding the incident was under review.