Young children waiting for aid at a medical clinic were among several Palestinians killed by an Israeli airstrike on Thursday, as ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine and ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore report
Warning: This report contains distressing images and details of the aftermath of the attack
At least 15 Palestinians, including ten children and three women, have been killed in an Israeli air strike while queuing to buy food supplements in central Gaza.
A bomb exploded in the city of Deir al-Balah early Thursday, killing and injuring those waiting to receive aid from a medical clinic, according to US-based aid group Project Hope, which runs the humanitarian facility.
Footage from the scene shows a donkey and cart being used to take the victims to Al-Aqsa Hospital.
In the hours after the attack, families gathered in the hospital’s morgue to pray over the bodies of those killed, laid across the floor.
Five-year-old Hanna, who was injured in the strike, is one of the children being treated.
She told ITV News: “Me and my mum and my baby sister, we went to get supplements and they attacked us. I got injured in my leg and so was my mum. My sister was injured in her legs and mouth.”
Project Hope, which runs the Altayara health clinic, said the attack was a “blatant violation of international law and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza”.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” said Dr Mithqal Abutaha, the group’s project manager, who was at another clinic at the time.
“People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death,” he said.
The Israeli military told ITV News their target was a lone Hamas terrorist and that they “regretted any harm to uninvolved individuals”.
Their statement read: “Earlier today (Thursday), the IDF struck a Nukhba terrorist in the Hamas terrorist organisation who infiltrated Israel during the brutal October 7th massacre, in the Deir al-Balah area of central Gaza.
“The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals in the area. The incident is under review.
“The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimise harm as much as possible.”
Project Hope has suspended operations at its Altayara clinic until further notice as a precautionary measure.
Another 21 people were killed in airstrikes in the southern town of Khan Younis and the nearby coastal area of Muwasi on Thursday, Gaza’s Nasser Hospital reported.
It said three children and their mother, as well as two other women, were among the dead.
Israel’s strikes on Gaza have shown no sign of slowing as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Donald Trump in Washington this week to work on a US-led ceasefire plan.
Hopes for an agreement in the near term appeared to be fading as Netanyahu prepared to return to Israel on Thursday evening.
The Israeli prime minister is holding firm to the idea that Hamas must be destroyed, while Hamas wants a complete end to the war following the proposed 60-day truce.
The war began after Hamas militants attacked Israel in 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier ceasefires.
Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organisations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
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