IDF says he killed Hamas commander in a cafe, where they killed dozens of civilians

The Israeli forces say they have killed the Hamas Naval Naval Commander in Northern Gaza at a naval cafe strike, which killed dozens of civilians.

Following the attack on the popular Al Baka cafe in Gaza on Monday, family members in Gaza and abroad told the BBC about their shock on the scale of civil victims.

In a statement on Sunday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said the impact killed Ramsay Ramadan Abd Ali Saleh, along with Hisham Ayman Atia Mansour, the deputy manager of the Hamas and Nisim Mohamed Suleiman Abu Sabha.

Saleh was a “significant source of knowledge” in Hamas and participated in the planning and advancement of the “marine terrorist attacks,” IDF said.

Gaza sources have previously told the BBC that a senior Hamas commander was driving that he was in the cafe during the strike.

IDF also said it has taken steps “to mitigate the risk of civilian damage, but does not provide more details why so many people were killed in the incident.

The BBC has reviewed 29 names of people reported killed in the strike in the cafe, at least nine of whom are women, while several are children and teenagers.

The killed included artists, students, social activists, women’s boxer, football player and cafe staff.

Staff at Schiffa Hospital, who received bodies from the attack, said his fee from Thursday reached 40 dead, including people who have succumbed to their injuries and unidentified bodies.

An employee at the hospital said some of the bodies were “blown to pieces” and that 72 injured patients were brought there – many of them have suffered severe burns and significant injuries that require surgery.

The coffee with Al Baka was well known in the Gaza Strip and considered many of the most picturesque and living places for meetings in the territory.

He remained popular even during the war, especially because of his unusually stable internet connection.

IDF did not directly answer a number of BBC questions about whether it considers the number of civilian victims as proportionate.

In his statement on Sunday, he said he “would continue to work against the Hamas terrorist organization to eliminate any threat represented by Israeli civilians” before saying that the “incident” is “in the process of review”.

Meanwhile, Indirect conversations between Israel and Hamas began in Qatar on Sunday To discuss the latest proposal for a fire termination transaction and hostage of gas.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the attack on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and 251 others were hostage.

Since then, at least 57 338 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory.