Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza overnight, with airstrikes and gunfire that left multiple dead at a seaside cafe as Palestinians attempted to reach aid, witnesses and health officials said.
One airstrike hit a seaside cafe in Gaza City crowded with women and children, Ali Abu Ateila, who was inside Al-Baqa Cafe, said. “Without a warning, all of a sudden, a warplane hit the place, shaking it like an earthquake,” he told the Associated Press.
Palestinians walk through the ruins of a Gaza City café after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Monday.Credit: AP
Dozens were wounded, many critically, and 30 people were killed, the head of the Health Ministry’s emergency and ambulance service in northern Gaza, Fares Awad, said.
It was one of only a few businesses to continue operating during the 20-month war in Gaza and was a gathering spot for residents seeking internet access and a place to charge their phones. Videos circulating on social media showed bloodied and disfigured bodies on the ground and the wounded being carried away in blankets.
Israeli forces also killed 11 people who had been seeking food in southern Gaza, according to witnesses, hospitals, and Gaza’s Health Ministry.
It comes before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns to Washington next week to meet with US President Donald Trump under the weight of heavy expectation for a new ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Trump, having helped broker a truce between Israel and Iran last week after the US bombed key Iranian nuclear facilities, has made clear that ending hostilities in the wartorn Palestinian territory is his next priority.
Read more of the full story from US correspondent Michael Koziol here.
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