Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike on the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank on October 4, 2024. | Photo Credit: AFP

Gaza rescuers say 21 killed in Israel strike on mosque

Eyewitnesses said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque was being used to house displaced people

by · The Hindu

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Sunday (October 6, 2024) that an Israeli strike on a mosque-turned-shelter in central Deir al-Balah killed 21 people, while Israel’s military said it had targeted Hamas militants.

“The number of deaths rose to 21 and a large number of wounded as a result of the occupation (Israel) bombing of a mosque sheltering displaced people in front of the gate of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip,” said agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

The strike on the mosque, near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, came as Israel's war in the Palestinian enclave approaches its first anniversary.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had “conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre” at the mosque.

Eyewitnesses said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque was being used to house displaced people.

The Israeli military said in a statement it "conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded in a structure that previously served as the 'Shuhada al-Aqsa' Mosque in the area of Deir al Balah."

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The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It has also displaced nearly all of the enclave's 2.3 million people, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

Published - October 06, 2024 06:43 am IST