An Israeli air strike tore through a bustling cafe and adjacent homes in a Palestinian city in the West Bank on Thursday night, killing at least 18 people, according to health officials, and leaving a swath of destruction. Residents said a family of four was among the dead, and on Friday, desperate people were still searching for loved ones in the rubble.
The Israeli military said the strike killed the head of Hamas in the city, Tulkarm, whom it accused of leading attacks on settlers in the West Bank and supplying weapons to other fighters.Both Hamas and another armed group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, confirmed that their local leaders had been killed in the strike. But most of the dead were civilians, according to residents, among them Abu Zahra’s family, including 7-year-old Sham and 5-year-old Karam, who lived above the cafe.
The Israeli military did not respond to questions about the number of civilians killed.