67 killed in Gaza as Israeli forces ‘strike cafe and fire at people seeking aid’
Israeli forces killed at least 67 people in Gaza on Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 22 others dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses, hospital and health officials said.
One airstrike hit the Al-Baqa Cafe in Gaza City when it was crowded with women and children, said Ali Abu Ateila, who was inside.
“Without a warning, all of a sudden, a warplane hit the place, shaking it like an earthquake,” he said.
Palestinians check a tent that was damaged after an Israeli strike in the backyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
At least 30 people were killed and dozens were wounded, said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry’s emergency and ambulance service in northern Gaza.
Mr Awad said many of the wounded were in critical condition. Two other strikes on a Gaza City street killed 15 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.
The cafe, one of the few businesses to continue operating during the 20-month war, 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.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed 11 people who had been seeking food in southern Gaza, according to witnesses, hospitals, and Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said it received the bodies of people shot while returning from an aid site associated with the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund.
Palestinians mourn during the funeral of people who were killed while returning from one of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centres, according to Nasser Hospital (AP)
It was part of a deadly pattern that has killed more than 500 Palestinians in the chaotic and controversial aid distribution programme over the past month.
The shootings happened around three kilometres (1.8 miles) from the GHF site in Khan Younis, as Palestinians returned from the site along the only accessible route.
Palestinians are often forced to travel long distances to access the GHF hubs in hopes of obtaining aid.
Nasser Hospital said another person was killed near a GHF hub in the southern city of Rafah.
Ten others were killed at a United Nations aid warehouse in northern Gaza, according to the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service.
– Strikes in and around Gaza City intensify
The strikes in Gaza City came as the military intensified its bombardment campaign across the city and the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp.
Palestinians walk in what was a cafe after it was damaged by an Israeli strike in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)
On Sunday and Monday, Israel issued widespread evacuation orders for large swathes of northern Gaza.
Palestinians reported massive bombing overnight into Monday morning, describing the fresh attacks as a “scorched earth” campaign that targeted mostly empty buildings and civilian infrastructure above the ground.
“They destroy whatever left standing… the sound of bombing hasn’t stopped,” said Mohamed Mahdy, a Gaza City resident who fled his damaged house on Monday morning.
Mr Awad with the emergency and ambulance services said that most of Gaza City and Jabaliya have become inaccessible and ambulances were unable to respond to distress calls from people trapped in the rubble.
The Israeli military said it had taken multiple steps to notify civilians of operations to target Hamas’ military command and control centres in northern Gaza.