Israeli forces have continued to pound Gaza, striking a busy market and a water distribution point, killing at least 95 Palestinians, as the death toll from Israel’s war on the enclave passed the grim milestone of 58,000.
The Israeli attack on the Gaza City market killed at least 17 people on Sunday, including prominent doctor Ahmed Qandil, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
In the central Nuseirat refugee camp, an Israeli missile attack struck a water collection point, killing at least 10 people.
Seven of the victims were children who had queued up to collect drinking water, according to medical sources. At least 17 others were also wounded.
The Israeli military is yet to comment on the Gaza City market strike, but said its attack on Nuseirat was aimed at a Palestinian fighter and had veered off course due to technical failure.
The Israeli claim could not be independently verified.
Jessica Dorsey, an international lawyer and an assistant professor at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, questioned Israel’s claim, saying the Israeli military does not take adequate measures to protect civilians in Gaza.
“Mistakes do happen in war, but at a certain point, given the pattern of civilian harm that we’ve seen over the last 21 months, you have to question calling this a mistake, and in fact, actually interrogate whether this is indeed their modus operandi,” she told Al Jazeera.
“Especially with this kind of advanced capability that they possess, we should be seeing more precision, not less responsibility, and unfortunately that’s not the case,” she added.
‘Child survival emergency’
The Palestinian Ministry of Health meanwhile said on Sunday that the overall confirmed death toll from Israel’s war has now risen to 58,026 people. More than half of those killed since the war began on October 7, 2023, have been women and children.
The ministry said at least 138,500 others have also been wounded.
The war and Israel’s siege have also left 2.1 million people in Gaza on the brink of famine, with the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, announcing the death of another infant from malnutrition.
The seven-month-old girl, Salam, died while being treated by UNRWA staff on Sunday, the agency said. The latest death came a day after authorities in Gaza said at least 67 children had already died of malnutrition since Israel’s war began.
The UN’s children’s agency, UNICEF, meanwhile, said that more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza in June, including more than 1,000 children in severe condition. The figure marks an increase for the fourth month in a row, the agency said in a post on X.
“Children’s bodies are wasting away. This is not just a nutrition crisis. It’s a child survival emergency,” the group added.
UNICEF and seven other UN agencies also issued a separate joint statement, warning that Israel’s blockade on the entry of fuel supplies into Gaza is threatening to shut down hospitals, water systems, sanitation networks and ambulances in the Strip.
In the statement, the agencies, which also included the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), said they may have to stop their operations entirely “without adequate fuel”.
“This means no health services, no clean water, and no capacity to deliver aid,” the agencies said. “Fuel must be allowed into Gaza in sufficient quantities and consistently to sustain life-saving operations.”
Gaza’s Government Media Office, meanwhile, accused Israel and security contractors working at aid distribution points of intentionally attacking civilians. In a statement, it called United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites “death traps” and described the situation as “genocide engineering under US sponsorship”.
At least 805 people have been killed and 5,250 wounded while attempting to collect aid since the GHF started operating in May.
Ceasefire talks
Efforts to end the war continue in the Qatari capital, Doha.
US President Donald Trump told reporters that he hoped talks for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will be “straightened out” this week.
His Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, also speaking to reporters, said he remained “hopeful” about the talks. He said he would be meeting Qatari mediators on the margins of the FIFA Club World Cup Final in the US.
The comments came as a US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire remains bogged down in disagreements, with both sides blaming each other for delays.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s deputy leader, Muhammad al-Hindi, said Israel has resisted committing to key conditions before moving on to the topic of prisoners.
“We’re discussing a framework agreement. It includes three points: ending aggression, withdrawal from Gaza and safe aid distribution,” he said. “Israel wants to skip straight to the prisoners’ file without guarantees on the main issues.”
Al-Hindi accused Israel of seeking to control the southern city of Rafah and force civilians into overcrowded, bombed-out areas under the guise of aid distribution.
“We cannot legitimise these aid traps that are killing our people. The resistance will not sign any agreement that amounts to surrender,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Israel, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close adviser, Jonatan Urich, is facing possible indictment over allegations he leaked classified military information to the German newspaper Bild.
Urich and another aide are accused of passing on secret intelligence to influence public opinion after six Israeli captives died in Gaza last August. The deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and deepened public anger at the government’s handling of ceasefire efforts.
Netanyahu has dismissed the investigation as politically motivated, calling it a “witch-hunt”. Urich has denied any wrongdoing.
The Bild article, published shortly after the captives’ bodies were discovered, aligned closely with Netanyahu’s narrative of blaming Hamas for the collapse of earlier ceasefire talks.
A previous two-month truce, which began in January, saw the release of 38 captives before Israel broke the ceasefire and resumed its devastating military assault.
