Six children waiting for water are among those killed in an Israeli air strike, emergency service officials say.

Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the chief spokesman of the military, identified the five soldiers who were killed and said they were carrying out an attack on a Hamas brigade in the northern town of Beit Hanoun intended to take out the armed group’s positions above and below ground.

Israel and Hamas appeared no closer to a breakthrough in indirect talks meant to pause the war and free some Israeli hostages after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Washington visit last week.