Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 19 people on Sunday, according to local health officials. Among the fatalities were six children at a water collection point. These events occurred despite ongoing attempts by mediators to broker a ceasefire in the region.
Negotiations aimed at pausing the 21-month war and securing the release of Israeli hostages appear to have stalled, with Israel and Hamas remaining at odds.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently met with the Trump administration in Washington to discuss a potential deal. However, a new dispute concerning the deployment of Israeli troops during a truce has emerged, casting doubt on the likelihood of a successful agreement.
Israel insists on maintaining forces in a land corridor in southern Gaza, citing its importance for security. Hamas, however, views this presence as an indication that Israel intends to resume the war after a temporary ceasefire ends.
Israel maintains that it will only end the war upon Hamas’s surrender, disarmament, and exile, conditions that Hamas rejects.
Hamas has stated its willingness to release the remaining 50 hostages, believed to be alive, in exchange for a complete end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Concurrently with the conflict in Gaza, violence has also escalated in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Funerals were held on Sunday for two Palestinians, including Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet, 20, who, according to the Palestinian health ministry, was killed in an attack by Israeli settlers.
In Gaza, officials at Al-Awda Hospital reported receiving 10 bodies following an Israeli strike on a water collection point in Nuseirat, central Gaza.
The hospital confirmed that six of the deceased were children.
The Israeli military stated that it struck over 150 targets in the past day but did not directly address the specific strikes mentioned. Israel attributes civilian casualties to Hamas’s operational activities within populated areas.
The October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the abduction of 251.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has reportedly killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, with over half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Gaza’s health ministry, operating under the Hamas-run government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its casualty figures. The UN and other international organizations consider these figures the most reliable available for assessing war casualties.
