Israeli air strike kills at least 10 Palestinians near Gaza school
An Israeli air strike has killed at least 10 people and wounded several others near a school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza, according to health officials.
The strikes on Monday came as Palestinians had clashed with members of an Israeli-backed militia that had reportedly attacked the school in an attempt to abduct some people, according to medics and residents.
“At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured, including six in critical condition, by Israeli shelling and clashes east of Maghazi refugee camp,” the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said in a statement.
In the midst of the clashes, Israeli drones fired two missiles, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others, the witnesses added. “The residents tried to defend their homes, but the occupation forces targeted them directly,” Ahmed al-Maghazi told the Reuters news agency.
The leader of the Israeli-backed militia said in a video published later that they killed some five Hamas members. Al Jazeera cannot independently verify this claim. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
‘Dying of thirst’: Inside Gaza’s al-Mawasi water crisis
Water shortages have recently worsened in several areas across Gaza, including al-Mawasi, after Eta – a company that provided clean and potable water, serving displaced people across the Strip from Rafah to Beit Hanoun – stopped operating due to what it said was a lack of funding.
“Water trucks used to come almost daily near the tents and eased the burden of collecting and transporting water,” Nawaf says. “But for several weeks now, these trucks have stopped, and our struggle to obtain drinking water has doubled.”
Nawaf explains that he can barely fill two small jerrycans due to the overwhelming crowd and intense competition among displaced people to access the filling stations. “We died from hunger, and now they are testing death by thirst on us… this is what’s left,” Nawaf says.
Nawaf and other displaced residents fear that the water crisis will worsen further, especially with the arrival of summer and rising temperatures.
“I won’t even begin to describe the suffering of summer in the tents… It feels like we are literally being roasted in a frying pan… There is no roof to protect us or our children’s bodies… and now, with the lack of drinking water, things will definitely be catastrophic,” Nawaf says.
Palestinians in al-Mawasi travel for hours to fill up jerry cans with drinking water
According to UN human rights experts, the majority of Gaza’s population does not receive enough drinking water. The crisis “was not only predictable; it was predicted”, the experts said.
UN officials have also noted that “people are receiving far less water than they need”, leading to the spread of waterborne diseases amid rising temperatures and deteriorating sanitation conditions.
This collapse is the result of Israel’s widespread destruction of water infrastructure, alongside fuel shortages and Israeli restrictions on the entry of equipment needed for maintenance.
The Palestinian Water Authority has confirmed that attacks have “destroyed water infrastructure in the Gaza Strip”, including “around 65 percent of water wells” in some areas, leading to a sharp decline in the sector’s ability to produce and distribute water.
As a result of the war, per capita water availability has dropped by 97 percent, while total available water in Gaza is now estimated to be only 10 to 20 percent of pre-war levels. This supply remains unstable and dependent on fuel availability, as Gaza relies primarily on groundwater sources, according to a report by the Palestinian Water Authority.
Systematic problem
At the same time, human rights organisations warn that the crisis is no longer merely a byproduct of war but has taken on a systematic nature. According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, “the lack of clean drinking water has become a matter of life or death” for civilians.
UN experts have also argued in a letter in July 2025 that what is happening goes beyond a conventional humanitarian crisis and falls within the use of essential resources as a tool of pressure.
The experts said the issue was not limited to infrastructure destruction, but also included cutting supplies, restricting fuel entry needed to operate water facilities, and obstructing repair and maintenance efforts.
“Israel’s blockade and destruction of civilian infrastructure has left most of Gaza’s two million residents displaced and without access to the minimum vital amount of drinking water,” the experts said.
This recurring pattern, combining direct targeting with sustained restrictions, has led to a deliberate reduction in the amount of water available to the population.
The UN experts warned that the “use of thirst as a weapon” has become a reality in Gaza, stressing that “cutting water and food is a silent but deadly bomb”.
And now Israel + the US are repeating destruction of water infrastructure in Lebanon and Iran.
