In a sickening intensification of the war in Gaza, Israel attacked a crowded beachside cafe with a 230kg US-manufactured bomb that killed at least 24 civilians. The lethal attack, which destroyed the family-owned Al-Baqa cafe in Gaza City, has unleashed outrage around the world. Legal specialists now say the attack may constitute a war crime under international humanitarian law.
Fragments unearthed at the site validate that an MK-82 general-purpose bomb was used, generally employed against military installations, not civilian facilities. The cafe, filled with children, women, and families, received no advance evacuation notice and no announced military target in the area.
Deadly Strike Hits Family Cafe
The Israeli military carried out the airstrike on Monday in the two-story Al-Baqa cafe. Gaza medical officials reported that the airstrike killed between 24 and 36 people and injured many more. Those killed included a prominent filmmaker, an artist in the city, a housewife, and a four-year-old boy. Wounded survivors included a 14-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl.
The 500lb (230kg) bomb creates intense blast and dispersal shrapnel damage. Israel did not officially declare the port facility housing the cafe as a combat zone, even though witnesses and experts emphasize that the bomb is intended for hardened military targets, not civilian sites like cafes.
International Law and Civilian Protection
Under the Geneva Conventions, warring parties must avoid attacks where civilian harm is “excessive or disproportionate” to the military gain. Experts say the military would have seen, via aerial surveillance, that the cafe was full of unarmed civilians.
Garry Simpson of Human Rights Watch stated, “The military would have also known that dropping a big guided bomb would kill and injure many civilians there.” He continued to say that the attack seemed disproportionate, indiscriminate, and possibly illegal.
IDF Responds, Rights Groups Demand Probe
An IDF spokesman said the strike from Israel was under examination. The military said that it acted to minimize harm to civilians through aerial monitoring. But legal analysts retort that the mere employment of a 230kg bomb in a populated area gravely undermines that argument.
Human rights organizations are demanding an independent probe. They urge investigators to treat the situation as a potential war crime and demand accountability for the killings of unarmed civilians.
A Café Turned Graveyard
The Al-Baqa cafe was a tranquil social venue for more than 40 years. Its destruction now constitutes yet another tragic installment in Gaza’s deteriorating humanitarian crisis. As the world becomes increasingly alarmed, the world must confront the laws of war and the imperative to safeguard civilians—even in the midst of conflict.
