An Israeli missile struck a water collection point in central Gaza on Sunday, killing at least eight Palestinians, most of them children, and injuring more than a dozen others, according to local officials. The Israeli military said the missile had malfunctioned and missed its intended target.
The explosion hit the Nuseirat refugee camp, where families had gathered to collect water amid growing shortages. Six children were among the dead and 17 others were wounded, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al-Awda Hospital.
A Palestinian boy inspects the site of an Israeli strike that killed Palestinians, gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
The Israeli Defense Forces said the missile was aimed at an Islamic Jihad militant in the area but fell “dozens of metres from the target.” A statement from the military expressed regret over civilian casualties and confirmed the incident is under review.
Water access in Gaza has become increasingly critical in recent weeks. Ongoing fuel shortages have forced the closure of key desalination and sanitation plants, making residents heavily reliant on local distribution points to collect water in plastic containers.
A Palestinian boy inspects the site of an Israeli strike that killed Palestinians, gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
In a separate strike earlier in the day, Palestinian media reported that 12 people were killed, including a hospital consultant, when an Israeli missile hit a busy market in Gaza City during mid-morning hours.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported that the death toll since the war began in October 2023 has surpassed 58,000, with 139 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count, but says women and children make up more than half of the dead.
Little progress in ceasefire talks
Negotiations for a ceasefire remain at a standstill. Talks mediated in Doha over a proposed 60-day truce have made little headway, as Israeli and Palestinian sources said the sides are divided on the scale of Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Optimism that briefly emerged last week has faded, with each side blaming the other for the lack of progress.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters entered Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages are believed to still be alive.
A woman and child walk among debris, aftermath of Israeli strikes at the area, where Israeli hostages were rescued on Saturday, as Palestinian death toll rises to 274, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, June 9, 2024. REUTERS/Abed Khaled
The Israeli military campaign has displaced nearly all of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents. But as airstrikes continue across the coastal enclave, Gazans say there are no safe areas left.
Early Sunday morning, a separate missile strike hit a house in Gaza City where a family had relocated after an evacuation order forced them from their home in the south.
“My aunt, her husband and the children are gone,” said Anas Matar, standing in the rubble. “What is the fault of the children who died in an ugly, bloody massacre at dawn? They came here, and they were hit. There is no safe place in Gaza.”
