At least 40 dead in Gaza as Israeli drone attacks cafe in 'safe zone' | News on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

At least 40 Palestinians have been killed across the Gaza Strip in Israeli strikes, including a drone strike on people sitting in a cafe in the al-Mawasi area in the south of the territory, previously designated a “safe zone” by the Israeli military.

Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza said at least 10 civilians were killed late Monday in a double missile strike by an Israeli drone on the small tented cafe west of Khan Younis in the south of the war-torn enclave.

“This is further evidence that Israeli claims about 'evacuation zones' and 'safe areas' are nothing more than false narratives,” Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said in a report from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

“People go to this cafe to connect to the internet and the outside world or to watch a football game on the big screen. A drone fired at least two missiles at the cafe while people were there. A witness said it was full,” Mahmoud said.

“Victims who arrived for treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis were completely disfigured,” he said, adding that seven injured in the strike underwent surgery.

Earlier, health officials at al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, central Gaza, said 20 people were killed in a series of air and ground strikes on Monday, including Israeli tanks that advanced into the Nuseirat refugee camp from the west and opened fire Residents opened and displaced families who tried to escape.

A witness said the tank attack on the refugee camp surprised residents.

“Some people could not leave and remained trapped in their homes, pleading to be let out, while others ran away with whatever they could carry,” said Zaik Mohammad, 25, who lives a kilometer away from the target area in the camp .

Four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, which Israeli forces have besieged since early October, medics said. Several more people were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City.

An Israeli drone also attacked Kamal Adwan Hospital near Beit Lahiya, injuring three medical workers, health workers said.

In a report from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum said the hospital had appealed to international institutions for protection in light of the attacks.

“Since the early hours of the morning, there has been a sharp intensification of attacks in the north of the Gaza Strip, particularly near the Kamal Adwan Hospital and also in the central market in Gaza City,” Azzoum said.

“New evacuation orders have been issued and issued by the Israeli military in these areas,” he added.

At least 43,603 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since the war began last year, the Gaza Strip Health Ministry said.

Israel's attacks on the enclave began after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, which killed an estimated 1,139 people in southern Israel.

“Terrible and shocking crimes”

Arab and Muslim countries condemned the “terrible and shocking crimes” committed by Israel during its war in Gaza at a joint summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Saudi Arabia on Monday.

In a statement, the leaders “strongly condemned” the Israeli army’s actions in the enclave.

The statement denounced “the crime of genocide … particularly in the northern Gaza Strip in recent weeks,” citing torture, executions, disappearances and “ethnic cleansing.”

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also said during the summit that the kingdom “categorically” rejects the “genocide of the brotherly Palestinian people.”

He called on the international community to also stop Israel from attacking Iran in order to respect its sovereignty.