Israeli airstrikes kill dozens through Eid as New York parade spotlights far-right ministers
An Israeli airstrike hit a seaport café in Gaza City on 31 May 2026, killing at least two Palestinians and wounding around a dozen others, according to health officials cited by Reuters. The attack occurred during Eid al-Adha, a major Islamic holiday, as the Israeli military continued a bombardment campaign that health authorities in Gaza said had killed at least 33 people across the enclave during the holiday period. The coincidence of continued strikes with the presence in New York of two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers — including one who has publicly called for starving Gaza's population and another who suggested the use of nuclear weapons — has amplified international scrutiny of the government's stated war aims and the cohesion of its postwar planning.
Eid carnage and the toll on civilians
The strike on the seaport café in Gaza City is among the deadliest single incidents reported on 31 May. Reuters reported that health officials confirmed at least two deaths at the scene and approximately twelve injuries, with the toll subject to change as rescue workers searched the rubble. The location — a café in a civilian area used by local residents and internally displaced persons — drew immediate condemnation from aid groups monitoring the conflict.
The broader Eid al-Adha death toll reported by the Gaza Health Ministry, cited by PressTV on 31 May, stood at 33 killed during the holiday period, with at least eight others injured by Israeli occupation forces. The ministry compiles casualty figures from hospitals across the enclave and has been the primary source for civilian harm statistics throughout the conflict. Independent international monitors have cross-referenced these figures against hospital admission records and found them broadly consistent with other documentation.
Israeli officials have not provided a specific justification for the seaport café strike as of the time of this reporting. The IDF Spokesperson unit had not issued a statement on the incident at the time of publication. Israel has previously characterised strikes on civilian infrastructure as necessary to eliminate Hamas operational capacity, a framing disputed by UN agencies and international humanitarian organisations who argue the cumulative effect of such targeting has degraded civilian infrastructure essential to survival.
New York parade and the coalition's international image
The New York event, organised by pro-Israel groups as a celebration of what organisers described as a national day for Israel, drew criticism after reporting by Middle East Eye on 31 May identified the two attending ministers and detailed statements they had previously made. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — both leaders of ultranationalist parties that form part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition — were present at the parade. Reporting by Middle East Eye noted that both ministers have publicly advocated positions that international humanitarian law experts classify as prohibited: Ben-Gvir has previously stated that "starving Gaza is a legitimate goal," while Smotrich suggested in a 2024 interview that a nuclear option against Gaza was among the approaches the international community should consider.
The New York mayor's office attended the event, according to Middle East Eye, which has become a point of contention given the city's large Palestinian and Arab-American communities. The presence of the two ministers at an officially sanctioned public event in New York contrasts with a US State Department posture that has publicly called for a ceasefire and increased humanitarian access. State Department officials have not commented specifically on the ministers' presence as of publication.
Israeli government spokespeople have defended the ministers' attendance, arguing that representing Israel at diaspora celebrations is a routine function of cabinet members. Coalition officials have rejected characterisation of their policy positions as advocating war crimes, though neither minister has publicly walked back the specific statements cited by Middle East Eye.
The pattern: Eid, civilian infrastructure, and continued bombardment
The seaport café strike is the latest in a series of incidents in which Israeli military action has struck locations in Gaza identified by residents and humanitarian organisations as civilian gathering points. Throughout the current conflict, strikes have hit markets, shelters, medical facilities, and food distribution points — a pattern that UN officials have repeatedly described as inconsistent with the principles of distinction and proportionality required under international humanitarian law. Israel has maintained that it takes precautions to reduce civilian harm and attributes any civilian casualties to Hamas's use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes.
The Eid timing of the strikes — during a holiday period when large numbers of displaced families gather in and around urban centres — compounds the cumulative toll on Gaza's civilian population. Health infrastructure in the northern Gaza Strip remains severely degraded following months of conflict, with aid organisations warning that even patients with survivable injuries face delays in receiving surgical care. The World Health Organisation has documented multiple cases where patients died while awaiting transfer due to insufficient functioning hospitals within accessible range.
Separately, Iranian state media reported on 31 May that the Gaza Health Ministry had documented the 33-death Eid al-Adha toll. Iran International and regional outlets have covered the same figure. The reporting from Iranian state-aligned sources should be read with awareness of their editorial alignment, but the underlying casualty documentation from the Health Ministry has been independently corroborated across multiple international wire services throughout the conflict, making the core figure credible in substance even where the framing may be slanted.
Stakes and the ceasefire question
The combination of continued strikes through Eid and the political spectacle in New York arrives at a sensitive juncture in ceasefire diplomacy. Qatar and Egypt have continued to act as intermediary guarantors for talks between Israel and Hamas, but negotiators report that the gap between the two sides on the sequencing of a ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages remains substantial. The presence of ministers in New York whose stated positions include scenarios — starvation, nuclear use — that go well beyond what the US and European partners have publicly endorsed as acceptable outcomes reinforces perceptions among Hamas negotiators that the Israeli government does not share the Biden administration's stated goal of a comprehensive ceasefire.
Domestically, the New York parade has deepened fractures within Netanyahu's coalition. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich face pressure from their political bases to continue the offensive until Hamas is militarily defeated — a goal that analysts inside and outside Israel have argued is not achievable through the current campaign's methods given the group's remaining command capacity and the limits of Israel's manpower in a prolonged occupation. A ceasefire that leaves Hamas structurally intact, or that exchanges a significant number of hostages for a pause in fighting, will be presented by the far-right flank as a capitulation. A continuation of the war with no defined endpoint will continue to exact civilian costs that maintain pressure from the international community.
The trajectory, if the current pattern holds, points toward a grinding continuation of the conflict through the summer, with ceasefire talks periodically resuming and collapsing, and Israeli operations continuing to generate civilian casualties that sustain international criticism while not delivering decisive military results. The alternation between diplomatic push and strike-driven escalation has become the operational rhythm of the conflict — and the New York parade, by displaying the coalition's far-right flank on foreign soil, has added a political layer to a military situation that was already difficult to resolve.
This article reflects coverage from Reuters and Middle East Eye on the New York parade, and from PressTV and Iran International on the Gaza Health Ministry casualty figures. Reuters provided the primary reporting on the Gaza City café strike. Monexus framed the piece around civilian harm during Eid observances and the diplomatic consequences of the coalition's international positioning, rather than the IDF's tactical rationale for the strike, given that no official justification had been provided at the time of publication.