‘We found them torn to pieces’: Israel bombs one of Gaza’s last sanctuaries

Narrator: 

The Al Baqa Cafe. A name known to everyone in Gaza. Before the war, a place where artists, journalists, friends and families spent their free time. After, one of the last places with power – where people came to charge phones, use the internet, remember normal life. 

On June 30, 2025, Israel dropped a 500-pound bomb directly on the cafe. At least 39 people were killed and the two-storey building destroyed. 

MARWAN SALIM AL BAQA, AL BAQA CAFE OWNER: 

This was an earthquake—not a strike. A two-ton bomb; there’s nowhere to hide that can protect you. No fence, no wall, no roof. Everyone was ripped apart, smashed limbs—they all died on the spot. People without guts, without legs, without heads, without arms—they all died on the spot. 

SAMIH ABU NOOR, CLIENT OF AL BAQA CAFE: 

I was going down the stairs, down that ramp when the explosion happened. I moved to one side because I was afraid that debris would fall. There was dust and smoke from the explosion covering the whole place, I couldn’t even see the stairs. I saw the workers who were martyred; there were five here. And Abu Al-Amir was the sixth. I went around and saw girls here and women here. Here, here and here. There was an injured man here with his wife; she was dead, and he was on his knees. There was a journalist over here who was martyred. There was another journalist here injured. Another journalist was martyred here. There was also an artist: she was martyred. 

Narrator: 

Among the killed was photojournalist and filmmaker Ismail Abu Hatab, whose photography documented life in Gaza in a profound way. 

Sitting beside him was his close friend Amna Al-Salmi – known as Fransi – who also died in the blast. Fransi’s work similarly reflected Gaza’s lived experience. This was her final Instagram post: a drawing captioned, ‘The blood of the martyr has the scent of cardamom.’” 

MARWAN SALIM AL BAQA, AL BAQA CAFE OWNER: 

Of the 100 people who were here not 10 survived. What was their crime? What did they do? They had no rockets, no RPGs. They were celebrating a birthday; people were eating, people were sitting, people were happy. That’s all. The rocket hit—and the shrapnel—I’ll show you the debris. The rocket was made a month ago. The debris is almost all there, and the entire head is there. The place was flattened: 10 millimetre steel was shattered. Human beings flew into the air. The entire place was completely destroyed. 

SAMIH ABU NOOR, CLIENT OF AL BAQA CAFE:

Some disappeared into the water; they weren’t found. Until now, we don’t know how many disappeared. The entire upper floor was blown into the sea. We found bodies at the port; we found them under the building. 

MARWAN SALIM AL BAQA, AL BAQA CAFE OWNER: 

We found a body here, and a head here, and the flesh of people, and remains at our neighbours’ place. People’s remains, one head is still there. I can show you on my camera. 

AKRAM MOHAMED MANSOUR, FAMILY OF VICTIMS OF BAQA CAFE BOMBING: 

I got a call, they told me the Baqa was hit and my brother Hossam was martyred. We went to the hospital, we found them torn to pieces, there were no bodies. Ripped to shreds. We couldn’t find his son Karim. We were looking for him for an hour and a half. When we found him we were shocked, he was cut apart. I mean, he was a small child, 12 years old. He did nothing wrong. Hossam was a simple man, he just wanted to live. He opened a stall by the sea, selling biscuits, drinks and water. After work, he’d go to the cafe to escape the heat because he’s living in a tent. We came here to escape death, but death came to us here in the west of Gaza, in the place they said was safe. 

SAMIH ABU NOOR, CLIENT OF AL BAQA CAFE: 

People would come here to get away from the camp, to try and forget the lives we are living. The hunger, the lack of food, everything that we don’t have. 

MARWAN SALIM AL BAQA, AL BAQA CAFE OWNER: 

I provided internet, electricity. The students who were martyred were doing exams. They had exams. They were sitting at their laptops taking exams. There was electricity; people used to contact their families, use the internet, things like this. This was their life. Just small entertainments, people would sit here while their kids would swim below. The people we lost, innocent as flowers. Boys, women, children and an old lady. I can show you the medication and the teddy bear and the birthday that was being celebrated. What did they do? They had no guns, they weren’t in the resistance or anything. 

SAMIH ABU NOOR, CLIENT OF AL BAQA CAFE: 

There was a birthday here. The lady here was celebrating a birthday for her daughter. We call it a mock-birthday. They make a fake birthday to please the little girl. There’s no candle, no cake, everything’s gone, so her mother laughs and says today is your birthday… So the mother and her child were martyred. 

Narrator: 

While Gaza’s last safe places are wiped away, a mere 50 miles along the coast, Tel Aviv’s beachfront carries on unchanged. Cafés fill with customers. Beach clubs play music until dawn.

AKRAM MOHAMED MANSOUR, FAMILY OF VICTIMS OF BAQA CAFE BOMBING: 

We used to come down to the Corniche every weekend. We’d get out, have fun with our friends and families. We’d spend late nights on the Corniche, life was good, I mean, really good. I mean, Gaza was beautiful. 

SAMIH ABU NOOR, CLIENT OF AL BAQA CAFE: 

Before the war, you’d come here and completely relax. At the New Year, everyone would be happy and people would celebrate. 

MARWAN SALIM AL BAQA, AL BAQA CAFE OWNER: 

Before the war, you couldn’t set foot in this place because it was so crowded, a very beautiful cafe. Google the Al Baqa Cafe page and look at how it used to be. We’ve been ruined. 

SAMIH ABU NOOR, CLIENT OF AL BAQA CAFE: 

Today even laughter has disappeared. We don’t smile anymore. Terror. We live in terror. So how is it for our children? The child says, “Tomorrow it will be me.” The child is waiting her turn, even the child. Today, what do you see? Destruction, destruction, destruction. I imagine when I’m walking, “God knows what’s under this building. God knows who is under it.” 

AKRAM MOHAMED MANSOUR, FAMILY OF VICTIMS OF BAQA CAFE BOMBING: 

If you followed up the names of the people who were killed in the cafe, you would find they are mostly women and children. There aren’t more than 5 men among them. I personally saw 5 or 6 dead women who were as yet unidentified. Their families still don’t know. 

MARWAN SALIM AL BAQA, AL BAQA CAFE OWNER: 

Today people have absolutely nothing. They are killed as if it’s totally normal. The Israelis bomb 50 people: no one looks, no one asks, no one says anything. Where are the human rights for the massacres that are happening like this? These are civilians. Where are their human rights? Who will hold Israel to account? And America, who is providing these 

weapons for them to practice on us? These weapons are horrific, they’re not normal. A bomb that leaves 81 dead bodies scattered in pieces across the whole area. 

AKRAM MOHAMED MANSOUR, FAMILY OF VICTIMS OF BAQA CAFE BOMBING: 

The bombs cause severe anxiety, because the explosions are huge and extremely loud. They are hitting us with every type of lethal weapon. 

SAMIH ABU NOOR, CLIENT OF AL BAQA CAFE:

We didn’t just lose the place, we lost our souls in this war. We lost our children, our learning. Our children’s future is gone. The place can be rebuilt, but what’s inside us will never go back to how it was. Our lost children will never come back.