CAIRO, June 30. /TASS/. At least 15 people died after an Israeli strike on a cafe in the Palestinian city of Gaza, the Al Jazeera television channel reported.

According to the television channel, Palestine TV reporter Abu Hattab was among those killed in the attack.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave.

On March 18, 2025, Israel resumed hostilities in the Gaza Strip and delivered a series of strikes on Hamas targets, thus cutting short the ceasefire that had been in place in the enclave since January 2025. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office explained the move by Hamas' rejections of proposals advanced after talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff. It claimed that the goal of the operation was to release all of the Israeli hostages. Hamas placed responsibility for this latest spiral of escalation in Gaza on Israel and the United States.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the start of Operation Gideon's Chariots in the northern and southern parts of the enclave on May 18. Its stated goal is the total defeat of Hamas and the release of all Israeli hostages from Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation aims to establish Israeli control of the entire Gaza.