Israel killed at least six Palestinians, including a child, and wounded more than a dozen in a drone strike on a cafe on the Gaza City

Israel killed at least six Palestinians, including a child, and wounded more than a dozen in a drone strike on a cafe on the Gaza City seafront, the blast throwing bodies into the sea.

It then claimed it had removed an “imminent threat” to its forces, yet the strike hit the shoreline, where no Israeli troops are anywhere near.

The claim is no accident: for two days US officials had pressed Israel to justify its strikes as imminent threats and minimize the killing, and Israel simply took the words and pinned them on a massacre of civilians by the sea.