• Over 60 killed, including two dozen at seafront rest area; school sheltering refugees also targeted
• IDF admits ‘harming civilians’ at aid sites; claims new orders issued after ‘lessons learned’
• Israeli minister in Washington for talks, Netanyahu due to meet Trump soon for renewed peace push
GAZA / WASHINGTON: Israeli forces killed at least 60 people on Monday — in one of the deadliest days in weeks — as Israeli officials headed to Washington for a renewed diplomatic push to secure a ceasefire and the release of prisoners.
Following the resolution of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, hopes for a halt to the fighting in Gaza have been revived, where more than 20 months of incessant bombing have created dire humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million.
US President Donald Trump has recently urged Israel to “make the deal in Gaza”, while key mediator Qatar said Monday that “momentum” had been created by the truce with Iran last week.
But on the ground, Israel has continued to press its offensive across the Palestinian territory.
According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, 21 people were in a strike on a seafront rest area.
“The place is always crowded with people because the rest area offers drinks, family seating and internet access,” eyewitness Ahmed Al-Nayrab, 26, told AFP, recalling a “huge explosion that shook the area”.
“I saw body parts flying everywhere, and bodies cut and burned… It was a scene that made your skin crawl.” Another eyewitness, Bilal Awkal, 35, said “blood covered the ground and screams filled the air”.
“Women and children were everywhere, like a scene from a movie about the end of the world.”
Photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab was among those killed in the strike.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 27 others were killed by Israeli strikes or gunfire across Gaza, including “11 people killed near aid distribution points in the central and southern parts of the territory”.
Eyewitnesses and local authorities have reported repeated killings of Palestinians near distribution centres in recent weeks, after Israel began allowing in a trickle of aid at the end of May.
Samir Abu Jarbou, 28, told AFP by phone that he had gone with relatives to pick up food in an area of central Gaza around midnight.
“Suddenly, the (Israeli) army opened fire, and drones started shooting. We ran away and got nothing,” he said.
In the southern city of Khan Yunis, the dead and wounded were rushed to a hospital in an open-top trailer after aid seekers said they were fired on by Israeli forces in nearby Rafah.
“The targeting was deliberate, aimed at people as they were leaving,” eyewitness Aboud al-Adwi told AFP.
“There was no one among us who was wanted or posed any threat. We were all civilians, simply trying to get food for our children,” he added.
IDF admission
In a significant development, the Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians were harmed at aid distribution centres in the Gaza Strip, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions following what it called “lessons learned”.
Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking handouts of aid.
“Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted in the Southern Command and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned,” an Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement.
The statement said incidents in which Gaza civilians were harmed were under review.
It followed a Friday report in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper that Israel’s Military Advocate General had ordered an investigation into possible war crimes over allegations that Israeli forces deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians near the sites.
The spokesperson had no immediate comment on a Times of Israel report on Monday, citing the military, that artillery shelling intended to deter Palestinians from approaching certain zones near aid distribution centres had been inaccurate in at least three instances, resulting in 30-40 casualties, including several fatalities.
Ceasefire push
US President Donald Trump had said last week that he was hoping for a new ceasefire “within the next week”, and is reportedly pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the Gaza war.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told journalists on Monday that “momentum” had been created by the Iran-Israel ceasefire on June 24.
“We won’t hold our breath for this to happen today and tomorrow, but we believe that the elements are in place to push forward towards restarting the talks,” he added.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is due to hold talks at the White House this week, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House on July 7 for talks with President Donald Trump.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier that Netanyahu had “expressed interest” in what would be his third meeting with Trump since the Republican returned to power in January.
“I know that Mr Dermer is in Washington this week to meet with senior officials here at the White House,” she told reporters.
The spokeswoman said Trump’s “priority” was to “end this brutal war in Gaza”.
“It’s heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end,” Leavitt added.
Separately, Washington has announced the approval of a $510 million sale to Israel of bomb guidance kits and related support, after Israel expended significant munitions in its recent conflict with Iran.
Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2025