74 killed in Gaza as Israeli forces strike a cafe and fire on people seeking food

CAIRO (AP) — Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza on Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 23 dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses and health officials said.

One airstrike hit 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.

Dozens were wounded, many critically, alongside at least 30 people killed, said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry’s emergency and ambulance service in northern Gaza.

Two other strikes on a Gaza City street killed 15 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. A strike on a building killed six people near the town of Zawaida, according to Al-Aqsa hospital.

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 U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund. It was part of a deadly pattern that has killed more than 500 Palestinians around the chaotic and controversial aid distribution program over the past month.

The shootings happened around 3 kilometers (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 an additional person was killed near a GHF hub in the southern city of Rafah. Another person was killed while waiting to receive aid near the Netzarim corridor, which separates northern and southern Gaza, according to Al-Awda hospital.

Ten other people were killed at a United Nations aid warehouse in northern Gaza, according to the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service.

Witnesses describe Israeli gunfire

One witness, Monzer Hisham Ismail said troops attacked the crowds returning from the GHF hub in Khan Younis.

“We were targeted by (the Israeli) artillery,” he said.

Yousef Mahmoud Mokheimar was walking with dozens of others when he saw troops in tanks and other vehicles racing toward them. They fired warning shots before firing at the crowds, he said.

“They fired at us indiscriminately,” he said, adding that he was shot in a leg, and a man was shot while attempting to rescue him.

He said he saw troops detaining six people, including three children. “We don’t know whether they are still alive,” he said.

The Israeli military said it was reviewing information about the attacks. In the past, the military has said it fires warning shots at people who move suspiciously or get too close to troops including while collecting aid.

Israel wants the GHF to replace a system coordinated by the United Nations and international aid groups. Along with the United States, Israel has accused the militant Hamas group of stealing aid and using it to prop up its rule in the enclave. The U.N. denies there is systematic diversion of aid.

The Israeli military said it had recently taken steps to improve organization in the area, including the installation of new fencing and signage and the opening of additional routes to access aid.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians because they operate in populated areas.

Strikes in and around Gaza City intensify

The military intensified its bombardment campaign across Gaza City and the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp. On Sunday and Monday, Israel issued widespread evacuation orders for large swaths 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.

“They destroy whatever left standing … the sound of bombing hasn’t stopped,” said Mohamed Mahdy, a Gaza City resident who fled his damaged house Monday morning.

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 centers in northern Gaza.

The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children.

The Hamas attack n October 2023 that sparked the war killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Some 50 hostages remain, many of them thought to be dead.