Israel steps up attacks on Gaza killing at least 80, health officials say

Israel intensified attacks on Gaza on Monday that killed more than 80 Palestinians, health officials said, with one air strike hitting a cafe near the strip's seafront.

The toll included 13 people killed as they were waiting for aid in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Dozens were also reported injured in the attack, with some in a critical condition. Another 10 people were killed when Israel bombed an aid distribution warehouse in Al Zeitoun, Gaza city, officials said.

At least 33 were killed, including a journalist, when Israeli warplanes struck a rest area on the Gaza city beach, medical sources told the Wafa news agency. About 50 people were wounded, some of them in critical condition, in the attack that targeted Al Baqa rest area, the sources said.

Journalist Ismail Abu Hatab was among those killed, Wafa news agency reported, while another journalist was injured.

The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centres, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. There was no immediate word from Israel on the reported casualties.

A ceasefire remains elusive in the strip. Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty spoke to Donald Trump envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday and “emphasised the necessity” of a truce, his office in Cairo said. He said this could be a prelude to achieving the US President's “vision of establishing comprehensive peace”.

The latest bombardment followed new displacement orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind widespread destruction.

The military ordered people there to head south, saying it planned to fight Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza city.

The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,500 Palestinians, most of them civilians, says Gaza's Health Ministry, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.

More than 80 per cent of the territory is now an Israeli-controlled zone or under displacement orders, the UN says.

Israel has vowed to destroy the militant group but after more than a year and a half of devastating war, Hamas is still hanging on in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's "victory" over Iran in their 12-day war had created "opportunities", including for freeing hostages still held in Gaza.

In an address to officers of Israel's security services, Mr Netanyahu added: "Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both goals."