An Israeli airstrike tore through a café inside a seaside displacement camp at Gaza City's port on Monday, killing at least six Palestinians — including a child — and wounding 14 more, several of whom were reportedly thrown into the harbor by the blast. The strike landed hours after U.S.-backed ceasefire talks, led by White House envoy Jared Kushner, broke down without an agreement.

The café sat inside a sprawling encampment that has sheltered displaced families at the port since October 2023. Witnesses described chaos as rescuers pulled survivors from the water while others searched the rubble. The Israeli military said it had "struck several Hamas commanders planning attacks on its troops in Gaza," describing the target as a gathering of the group's Nukhba Force — the unit that led the October 7, 2023 attack — but offered no public evidence linking the café to that claim.

A Familiar, Unpredictable Danger

Palestinian health officials say more than 1,200 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since a previous ceasefire collapsed last October, with roughly 800 additional bodies pulled from rubble in recent weeks alone. Al Jazeera reported the strike hit without warning, a pattern correspondent Hani Mahmoud described from Gaza: "These attacks happen in an unpredictable way. You could be walking in the street; you could be sitting in a cafe when such attacks happen."

"YOU COULD BE SITTING IN A CAFE WHEN SUCH ATTACKS HAPPEN."

An Israeli official told reporters that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "made clear the military would continue to operate in Gaza and that there would be no pullback of troops," signaling no near-term shift in strategy even as diplomatic pressure mounts. The National reported the death toll climbed through Tuesday morning as rescue crews continued searching the site.

The Gaza war has ground on for nearly three years since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, with repeated ceasefire attempts collapsing amid disputes over troop withdrawals, hostage releases and reconstruction terms. Humanitarian groups have repeatedly warned that displacement camps like the one struck Tuesday offer residents little real protection, since active combat zones frequently shift with no advance warning to civilians sheltering nearby.

The strike lands at a delicate moment. Kushner had spent recent days shuttling between regional capitals — including a stop in Cairo to meet Hamas officials — trying to revive a stalled framework for a broader Gaza truce. Those talks stalled Monday night without a public breakthrough, and Tuesday's strike is likely to further complicate efforts to restart them.

No Hamas response to the specific strike had been issued as of Tuesday. Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its casualty counts, said search-and-rescue operations were ongoing and the toll could rise. Egyptian and Qatari mediators, who have hosted previous rounds of talks, are expected to press both sides to return to the table this week.