At least 60 people were killed across Gaza on Monday in some of the heaviest Israeli strikes in weeks, as Israeli officials headed to Washington for renewed ceasefire talks pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
A day after Trump called to “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer traveled to Washington for discussions on Iran and Gaza, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the matter.
While talks were set to begin, fighting escalated across the Palestinian enclave. The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Monday for large districts in northern Gaza, forcing a new wave of displacement.
Israeli tanks pushed into eastern Zeitoun, a suburb of Gaza City, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
Health authorities reported that at least 58 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, including 10 people in Zeitoun and at least 13 in the southwest of Gaza City. Medics said the majority of the 13 were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike.
In a tragic incident, twenty-two people—including women, children, and a local journalist—were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a beachfront café in Gaza City, medics said. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate stated that more than 220 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the onset of the war in October 2023.
The Israeli military claimed it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the reported casualties near the beachfront café or in the southwest Gaza Strip.
