GAZA CITY (AFP) — Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed more than 40 Palestinians, including children at a water distribution point, as talks for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas stalled.
Delegations from Israel and the Palestinian militant group have now spent a week trying to agree on a temporary truce to halt 21 months of devastating fighting in the Gaza Strip.
On the ground, civil defense agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said eight children were among the 10 victims of a drone strike at a water point.
Israel’s military blamed it on a “technical error” when targeting a militant in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, adding “the munition fell dozens of meters from the target.”
Washington is Israel’s top ally and Donald Trump has been pushing for a ceasefire, with the US president saying Sunday he was hopeful of a deal.
But there was no immediate sign an end to the fighting was near.
Strikes across the Palestinian territory on Sunday killed at least 43 people, including 11 at a Gaza City market, Bassal said.
In Nuseirat, resident Khaled Rayyan told Agence France-Presse he was woken by the sound of two large explosions.
“Our neighbor and his children were under the rubble” of a house hit, he said.
Another resident, Mahmud al-Shami, called on the negotiators to secure a ceasefire deal.
“What happened to us has never happened in the entire history of humanity,” he said. “Enough.”