At least 74 killed in Gaza after Israeli forces strike

In the Middle East.

Dozens of lives were lost in Gaza following Israeli air assaults this past Monday.

Byeon Ye-young reports.

On Monday, as reported by AP News, Israeli forces left at least 74 people dead in Gaza.

The deadliest attack was carried out by airstrikes on a beachfront café that was filled with women and children.

It was one of the few places during the war where civilians could charge their phones and get Internet access.

"An F-16 missile, a war missile, military aircraft, not a drone or a bomb or a shell from a boat. The F-16 shook the place, it struck this place as you can see, pools of blood, piles of martyrs. I mean, if you had seen the scene from the beginning, there were piles of martyrs."

Fares Awad, a Gaza health ministry official, said at least 30 were killed and dozens injured in the café strike.

Local medical officials reported 15 more deaths on a Gaza City street, six in a separate building strike, 11 civilians shot while searching for food, and 10 killed at a UN aid warehouse.

While Israel maintains it only targets militants, Gaza's Health Ministry reports that more than 56-thousand Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed since the war began.

Meanwhile, unnamed U.S. officials confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next Monday.

The meeting comes as Trump intensifies efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, during a briefing on Monday, reaffirmed the administration's commitment to ending the conflict.

"I also know that this administration is in constant communication with Israeli leadership, and the president himself speaks frequently, as you know, to Prime Minister Netanyahu. But this has been a priority for the president since he took office, to end this brutal war in Gaza."

Netanyahu's upcoming visit comes as the U.S., after striking Iranian nuclear sites and brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, shifts focus to ending the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Byeon Ye-young, Arirang News.