Israel kills six people at Gaza cafe and attacks Syrian airfield as US condemns ‘unnecessary escalation’

An Israeli airstrike has killed at least six Palestinians at a portside cafe in the Gaza Strip.

Israel also launched eight air strikes on an air base in northwestern Syria, in what the US special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq has called “unnecessary escalation”.

The Israeli attacks follow failed peace talks between Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump ’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Kushner wrapped up his trip to the region without managing to push forward his father-in-law’s plan to end the war in Gaza.

Gaza medics said that as well as the six people killed by the two Israeli missiles aimed at a small cafe inside the fishing harbour in the west of Gaza City, another 14 people were wounded. Hamas said a child was among those killed in the strike.

The seaport has turned into a large displacement camp for Palestinian families during the war that began in October 2023.

Blood stained the ground that was strewn with debris and people’s shoes after the air strike on the cafe.

Israel’s military said it had carried out an air strike on Hamas commanders and several other militants. It said one of those targeted had taken part in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The military initially said the targeted Hamas commanders had planned to carry out attacks against Israeli troops in Gaza, before later saying several other militants were also killed. It did not release evidence.

Hamas did not say whether any of its commanders or any other militants had been killed in the strike. The militant group rarely acknowledges casualties among its own ranks.

Hamas has accused Israel of trying to sabotage Trump’s plan to end the war, which both Israel and Hamas agreed to last year, but said the Palestinian militant group was committed to the agreement.

Kushner left Jerusalem on Monday without a breakthrough after meeting Netanyahu.

A day earlier, he met mediators and Hamas leaders in Egypt over ways to enhance the implementation of Trump’s new roadmap for Gaza, with Hamas and Israel staying firm on their main demands.

After the meetings, an official from Trump’s so-called Board of Peace, which put forward the roadmap, said Israel retained its “full right of self defence” and that there would be no “redeployment” by the Israeli military until Hamas was disarmed.