At least 74 people were killed in some of the heaviest Israeli strikes on Gaza in weeks as the besieged Palestinian territory continued to endure relentless bombardment 20 months into the war.
The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Monday to the remaining populations of several large districts in northern Gaza, forcing a new wave of displacement.
At least 30 people were killed and dozens wounded after Israeli forces attacked Al-Baqa Cafe in Gaza City, the emergency and ambulance service said. A local journalist, women and children were among those killed in the airstrike, Gazan medics said.
Fares Awad, head of the ambulance service, said many of the wounded were in critical condition.
The cafe, one of the few businesses to survive the war so far, was a gathering spot for Palestinians seeking internet access and a place to charge their phones.
Footage on social media showed bloodied and disfigured bodies on the ground and the wounded being carried away in blankets.
In two other strikes on a Gaza City street, at least 15 people were killed, Shifa Hospital officials said after receiving the casualties.
Another six people were killed near the town of Zawaida after the Israeli military targeted a building, Al-Aqsa Hospital authorities said.
Israeli forces also killed 11 people seeking food aid in southern Gaza and 10 people near a UN aid warehouse in the north, witnesses, hospital and emergency service officials, and the Gazan health ministry said.
The massacre in the south took place nearly 3km from a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub in Khan Younis as a group of Palestinians was returning through the only accessible route.
In the absence of safer and shorter routes, starving Palestinians are often forced to walk long distances to GHF distribution points in the hopes of obtaining aid.
Israeli soldiers have killed over 500 Palestinians seeking to get food and medical aid from the chaotic and controversial GHF programme over the past month. The GHF is backed by the US and Israel to distribute aid, at the expense of more reputable charities and UN agencies.
Doctors Without Borders has condemned the current aid distribution as “a slaughterhouse masquerading as humanitarian aid” and called for the system to be dismantled.
Palestinian witnesses to the latest killings said they were shot at indiscriminately. Yousef Mahmoud Mokheimar recalled he was walking with dozens of other people when he saw troops in tanks and military vehicles racing towards them. The Israeli soldiers fired warning shots before firing at the crowd, he said.
“They fired at us indiscriminately," he said, adding that he was shot in the leg and another man was shot while attempting to rescue him.
He said he saw the Israeli troops detaining six people, including three children. “We don’t know whether they are still alive,” Mr Mokheimar said.
Israeli tanks also pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
The Israeli military claimed they struck militant targets in northern Gaza while taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.
The latest wave of Israeli bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind widescale destruction.
The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.
Meanwhile, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps of the war on Gaza.
Israel's military chief said on Friday the present ground operation was close to achieving its goals. On Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom were believed to still be alive.
A Hamas official said progress on any ceasefire deal depended on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war on Gaza.
Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar claimed his country had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposed by the US and hostage deal and put the onus on Hamas.
The proposed deal stipulates Hamas must release half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the bodies of other Palestinians. Hamas must then release the remaining hostages as part of a deal that guarantees ending the war.
Israel’s war on Gaza began after about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage during a Hamas attack on southern Israel in October 2023.
The Israeli war has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians so far, according to the health ministry, displaced almost the whole 2.2 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
