66 dead as Israel bombs children lined up outside Gaza health clinic

Gaza's civil defence 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 el-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."

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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 el-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 minimise harm as much as possible", adding the incident was under review.

- 'Killed instantly' -

Mohammed Abu Ouda, 35, was also in the queue at Project Hope. "What was our fault? What was the fault of the children?" he asked.

"I saw a mother hugging her child on the ground, both motionless -- they were killed instantly."

AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details due to media restrictions in Gaza.

Four people were killed and several injured in a separate pre-dawn air strike on a home in Al-Bureij camp in central Gaza, civil defence agency official Mohammed al-Mughair added.

AFP footage from Al-Bureij showed a family including three young children sitting among rubble outside their tattered tent after an air strike hit a house next door.

Elsewhere, three people, including a woman, were killed by Israeli gunfire on civilians near an aid centre in the southern city of Rafah, the civil defence agency said.

More than 600 people have been killed around aid distributions and convoys in Gaza since late May, when Israel began allowing a trickle of supplies, the United Nations said in early July.

The European Union on Thursday said it had struck a deal with Israel to open more crossings for aid, as well as to repair infrastructure and protect aid workers.

"We count on Israel to implement every measure agreed," EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X.

The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory strikes have killed at least 57,762 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

The United Nations deems the figures reliable.

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Israel PM sets out red lines

Israel is ready to negotiate a lasting deal with Hamas to end the Gaza war when a temporary halt to hostilities begins, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

But Netanyahu said the Islamist militants must first give up their weapons and their hold on the Palestinian territory, warning that failure to reach a deal on Israel's terms would lead to further conflict.

His comments as Gaza's civil defence agency said eight children -- killed as they queued for nutritional supplements outside a health clinic -- were among 66 people who died in Israeli strikes across the territory Thursday.

The UN children's agency said one victim was a one-year-old boy who according to his mother had uttered his first words only hours earlier.

Efforts to secure a 60-day halt in the 21-month war have dominated Netanyahu's talks with US President Donald Trump in Washington.

Indirect negotiations have been taking place between the two sides in Qatar, and the militants have agreed to free 10 of the 20 hostages still alive in captivity since the October 7, 2023 attack which sparked the war.

Sticking points include Hamas's demand for the free flow of aid into Gaza and Israel's military withdrawal from the territory. It also wants "real guarantees" on a lasting peace, the group said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said "progress has been made" but admitted in an interview with Austrian newspaper Die Presse that ironing out "all complex issues" would likely take "a few more days".

There was no agreement on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages, he told the newspaper.

He said that "initially, eight hostages are to be released, followed by two more on the 50th day" of the 60-day ceasefire. "Additionally, 18 bodies of hostages are to be handed over," he was quoted as saying.

Saar said a lasting ceasefire would be discussed but added: "There are still major differences, especially regarding the question of how Hamas will be prevented from controlling Gaza after the war."

He said Israel was ready to grant Hamas leaders safe passage into exile.

- 'Fundamental conditions' -

Netanyahu, who is under domestic pressure to end the war as military casualties mount, said disarming and neutralising Hamas were "fundamental conditions" for Israel.

"If this can be achieved through negotiations, great," he said. "If it cannot be achieved through negotiations within 60 days, we will have to achieve it through other means, by using... the force of our heroic army."

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told AFP that it would not accept "the perpetuation of the occupation of our land" or Palestinians being herded into "isolated enclaves" in the densely populated territory.

The group was particularly opposed to Israeli control over Rafah, on the border with Egypt, and the so-called Morag Corridor between the southern city and Khan Yunis, he added.

Israel announced this year that the army was seizing large areas of Gaza to be incorporated into buffer zones cleared of their inhabitants.

Naim said the group also wanted to end the delivery of aid by a US and Israel-backed group, a system which has seen scores of people killed while seeking food rations.

- Blood and screams -

The Palestinian territory's civil defence agency said eight children were among 17 people killed in an Israeli strike outside a medical clinic in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

"The ground shook beneath our feet and everything around us turned into blood and deafening screams," said Yousef Al-Aydi, who was in the queue for nutritional supplements when he heard a drone approaching then a blast.

Rabih Torbay, the head of US medical charity Project Hope which runs the facility, called it "a blatant violation of humanitarian law".

Israel's military said it had struck a Hamas militant in the city who had infiltrated Israel during the 2023 attack and that it "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals".

Overall, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 57,762 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the start of the conflict.

Hamas's October 2023 attack led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

A total of 251 hostages were seized in the attack. Forty-nine are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.