The military said Tuesday that it was looking into a strike at a cafe in Gaza City the day before. According to Hamas-linked authorities, the strike killed 24 people.

Separately, another shooting incident was reported near an aid distribution site in southern Gaza, and the Israel Defense Forces said it dismantled a tunnel network stretching three kilometers (1.86 miles) that was used by terror operatives in Khan Younis.

The IDF said Tuesday that it carried out airstrikes on more than 140 terror targets across the Gaza Strip over the previous 24 hours.

According to the IDF, the airstrikes Monday and Tuesday targeted terror operatives, anti-tank launch sites, weapons depots, military buildings, and underground infrastructure threatening Israeli troops.

The ongoing fighting comes as Israel’s recent conclusion of its campaign against Iran has intensified efforts in Israel and Washington to end the war in Gaza and free hostages held there for nearly two years.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who has held several cabinet meetings in recent days about the war against Hamas that have ended without a decision — is set to visit the White House on July 7 to discuss both Gaza and Iran with the American president.

Ground forces from multiple divisions are also operating in various parts of the Strip.

The 99th Division directed an airstrike that killed two operatives attempting to plant an explosive device, while the 162nd Division eliminated eight operatives in an operational command center, the IDF said.

The 36th Division reported dozens of terrorist operatives killed and hundreds of targets destroyed in recent days.

Meanwhile, naval forces struck several targets in southern Gaza under direction from the 143rd Division.

The IDF said it was investigating a Monday strike that hit a seafront Gaza cafe.

In a response to reports about the cafe, the army said it struck “several Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Gaza’s Hamas-linked civil defense agency said at least 24 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in the strike on the Al-Baqa cafe, a prominent venue along Gaza City’s coastal promenade.

The figure could not be independently verified.

According to the military, extensive precautions were taken ahead of the strike — including aerial surveillance — to reduce harm to civilians.

The cafe and restaurant, which had so far survived more than 20 months of war sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, had become a gathering spot for those not displaced by the conflict.

“There’s always a lot of people at that spot, which offers drinks, spaces for families, and internet access,” said Ahmad al-Nayrab, 26, who was walking on the nearby beach when he heard a loud explosion.

“It was a massacre,” he told AFP. “I saw bits of bodies flying everywhere, bodies mangled and burned. It was a bloodcurdling scene; everybody was screaming.”

Another eyewitness, 35-year-old Bilal Awkal, said “blood covered the ground and screams filled the air. Women and children were everywhere, like a scene from a movie about the end of the world.”

The Hamas government’s media office reported that photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab was among those killed in the strike.

In one of the largest tunnel discoveries in recent weeks, IDF Paratroopers operating in Khan Younis dismantled a sprawling underground network used by terror operatives in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said Tuesday.

The troops uncovered roughly three kilometers of interconnected tunnels, used by terror groups to stage attacks, store weapons, and move undetected. The operation was carried out in coordination with the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit.

According to the IDF, dozens of terrorists were killed in close-quarters battles during the ongoing operation, which also included Israeli Air Force strikes.

The IDF said that its troops have destroyed hundreds of above- and below-ground terror sites, including tunnel shafts, command centers, and fortified hideouts designed for long-term use.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that, apart from the cafe strike, 27 others were killed by Israeli strikes or fire across Gaza, including 11 near aid distribution points in the center and south.

The agency’s numbers are unverified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Eyewitnesses and local authorities have reported repeated killings of Palestinians near distribution centers in recent weeks, after Israel began allowing in aid at the end of May, largely for distribution through an Israeli- and US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Israel has acknowledged responsibility for some of the deaths near aid sites, attributing them to crowd-control measures, but has said the reported tolls are exaggerated.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas assault on southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are still holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF officer killed in Gaza in 2014.