By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – At least 26 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school housing displaced people in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, the government media office said. of Gaza led by Hamas.
Palestinian health officials said at least 20 more people had died since Saturday night in northern Gaza, after the army sent tanks into areas there for the first time in months and urged residents to leave.
The Israeli military said it had carried out “precise strikes against Hamas terrorists” operating within the command and control centers located at the Ibn Rushd school and the Shuhada al-Aqsa mosque, in the Deir al-Balah area in the center of Gaza.
Hamas rejects accusations that it uses civilian facilities such as schools, hospitals and mosques for military purposes.
“The mosque has been here for 20 years and the neighborhood has displaced people,” said Imam Ahmed Fleet as he recovered Korans from the rubble. “I was surprised when they hit him.”
The attacks came as the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas approaches its first anniversary and as Israel has been expanding its actions in Lebanon.
Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage, according to Israeli counts.
Israel’s subsequent military attack on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It also displaced nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents, sparked a hunger crisis and led to accusations of genocide at the World Court that Israel denies.
The International Committee of the Red Cross urged all parties to ensure that all civilians were protected.
“This is a year marked by anguish and unanswered questions. Families have been torn apart and many loved ones are still being held against their will. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced across the region,” he said. .
The Hamas-run Gaza government’s media office said Israel had attacked 27 homes, schools and shelters for displaced people across Gaza in the past 48 hours.
Doctors said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, where Israeli forces have been operating since May.
TANKS PUSH TOWARDS NORTH GAZA
On Saturday, the army issued new evacuation orders in parts of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, just north of Deir al-Balah, forcing hundreds of families to leave their homes. The military statement said its forces aimed to operate against Hamas militants launching attacks from the territory.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks advanced toward the Beit Lahiya and Jabalia areas of northern Gaza overnight, and planes hit several houses, killing at least 20 people, according to medics.
Later on Sunday, the Israeli military said in a statement that troops operating in Jabalia had killed dozens of Palestinian militants and had located weapons and explosive devices.
“Troops continue operational activity against terrorist infrastructure and terrorists in the area,” the statement said.
Hours earlier, he said his forces had surrounded the Jabalia area, the focus of their operations.
In one airstrike, 10 people were killed in one house and another five in another attack on a second home. Residents described it as one of the worst nights in many months.
“The war is back,” said Raed, 52, of Jabalia, before he and his family left for Gaza City on Sunday.
“Dozens of explosions from airstrikes and tank shelling shook the ground and buildings, it felt like the first days of the war,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
The armed wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and smaller factions said the fighters were involved in firefights with Israeli forces in Jabalia, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps.
The Israeli military said its forces were operating in Jabalia to fight Hamas militants, dismantle military infrastructure and prevent Hamas from regrouping.
He ordered residents to go to a designated humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian and U.N. officials say nowhere in the enclave is safe, including humanitarian zones.
Among those killed in northern Gaza on Sunday was local journalist Hassan Hamad. His death brought to 175 the number of Palestinian journalists killed since October 7, according to the Gaza government’s media office.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal Al Mughrabi. Additional reporting by Muhammad Al Gebaly and Steven Scheer; Editing by Sandra Maler, Christian Schmollinger, Alison Williams, Alexandra Hudson (NYSE:))