Israeli forces say they killed the commander of Hamas’s naval force in North Gaza in a strike in a sea shore cafe in which dozens of civilians were killed.
After the attack on the popular Al-Buka cafe in Gaza City on Monday, Gaza and family members abroad told the BBC of their shock on the scale of civil casualties.
In a statement on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike killed Ramji Ramzan Abd Ali Saleh, along with Hishm Ayman Atia Mansoor, Hamas’s Mortar Unit’s Deputy Chief and Nisim Muhammad Suleman Abu Sabha.
The IDF stated that Saleh was an “important source of knowledge” within Hamas and was involved in planning and moving forward “maritime terrorist attacks”.
Gaza sources had earlier told the BBC that a senior Hamas commander was rumored to be in the cafe at the time of the strike.
The IDF also said that it had taken “steps to reduce the risk of damaging citizens”, but did not give any more details about killing so many people in the incident.
The BBC has reviewed the 29 names of those killed in the strike on the cafe, of which at least nine women were, while many were children and teenagers.
Those killed included artists, students, social workers, a female boxer, a footballer and cafe staff.
The employee of the Shifa Hospital, who received the dead body from the attack, said that its toll was dead as Thursday, including the victims of their injuries and unknown bodies.
A hospital official said some bodies were “blown into pieces”, and that 72 injured patients were brought there – many people had constant severe irritation and significant injuries that required surgery.
Al-Baja Cafeteria was well known in the Gaza Strip, and was considered one of the most beautiful and vibrant meeting sites in the region by many.
It was also popular during the war, especially due to its unusually stable internet connection.
The IDF did not directly answer several BBC questions whether it has considered the number of civic casualties proportional.
Its statement on Sunday said that it would continue to work against the Hamas Terrorist Organization “,” Israeli citizens to overcome any threat.
During this time, Indirect conversation between Israel and Hamas started in Qatar on Sunday To discuss the latest proposal for Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
In response to the 7 October 2023 attack, the Israeli army launched a campaign in Gaza, killing around 1,200 people and 251 others were taken hostage.
According to the Hamas-Interested Health Ministry of the region, at least 57,338 people have been killed in Gaza since then.
