An Israeli strike on a mosque in the Gaza Strip early yesterday killed at least 19 people, Palestinian officials said, as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Beirut in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region.
Displaced people were sheltering at the mosque that was struck near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. A further four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.
The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.
Photo: AFP
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead from the strike on the mosque were all men.
Today is the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks against Israel that led to the war. While Israel battles Hamas in Gaza, it has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has been trading fire with Israel along the border since the war in Gaza began. Israel has also vowed to strike Iran itself after Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.
The Israeli military announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, home to a densely populated refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.
Israeli forces encircled Jabaliya as warplanes struck militant sites inside, the military said.
Israel reiterated its call, from the opening weeks of the war, for the complete evacuation of northern Gaza. Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained in the heavily destroyed north after earlier Israeli warnings that sent about 1 million fleeing to the south.
Palestinian residents reported heavy Israeli strikes across northern Gaza.
Residents posted about the airstrikes and mourned their relatives on social media.
Imad Alarabid wrote on Facebook that an airstrike on his home in Jabaliya killed a dozen family members, including his parents.
Saeed Abu Elaish, a health ministry medic, said he was wounded and bleeding.
“Pray for us,” he wrote on Facebook.
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