15 killed in Israeli airstrike while waiting for aid in C. Gaza

11/7/2025 6:51

At least 15 children and women were killed and dozens wounded while waiting for food aid in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday in an Israeli airstrike, according to Palestinian medical sources.

Eyewitnesses said that the attack took place in an area designated by the Israeli army as "green and safe," where a queue of women and children were waiting to receive nutritional supplements for kids suffering from malnutrition and severe anemia caused by the continued Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid into the coastal enclave.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the incident.

Hamas condemned the Israeli airstrike, describing the attack as a "heinous crime."

The faction renewed its call for the international community to "take urgent action" to halt Israeli attacks on Gaza, lift the blockade, allow aid into the area, and hold Israeli leaders accountable.

Separately, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said Thursday that the population of the Gaza Strip has decreased by 10 percent due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict since Oct. 7, 2023.

The unprecedented population decline was due to the increasing number of dead and missing persons, the emigration of thousands outside the strip, and a declining birth rate, the bureau said in a report.

Population estimates indicated that the population in Gaza has decreased to 2,114,301.

The report added that since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, more than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed, representing 2.4 percent of the strip's total population.