Airstrikes pounded the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing dozens of people, health officials said, as Israel reaffirmed its plans to capture more land in the enclave and force all two million Gaza residents to live in the south.
The single deadliest bombing hit near a popular cafe in Gaza City where young people gathered to use the internet, killing 33, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Hospitals across the Gaza Strip reported casualties caused by other airstrikes throughout the day, said a ministry official, Zaher Al-Wuhaidi. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the target of the attack.
The renewed violence came after Israel announced earlier this week that it was calling up tens of thousands of military reservists to enact the expansion of the war. Israeli leaders say they hope that the campaign will pressure Hamas to compromise in stalled cease-fire negotiations, and release the hostages it still holds in Gaza.
In Gaza City, bodies of young men were strewn outside the cafe as women looked on in horror, according to a New York Times photographer at the scene. One mourner outside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, clutching his head in agony, wore a sweatshirt that read, “Be nice.”
