Israeli air attacks today have targeted a mosque and a school in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least 26 Palestinians and leaving dozens more inured. Among those used as shelters for displaced civilians were the al-Aqsa Martyrs mosque and the Ibn Rushd school. A Gaza health ministry run by Hamas said the airstrikes occurred in Deir al-Balah, killing civilians, though the health ministry doesn’t separate the numbers of civilian and combatant deaths.
Says the Israeli military,
The sites “were being used by Hamas as ‘command and control’ centers for their operations.” Says the IDF, measures had been taken to minimize civilian casualties in these attacks, such as precision weaponry and aerial surveillance. Still, videos and images made available from the mosque and school, and verified by entities such as the BBC, include bodies among the rubble and significant damage, where one of the schools caught on fire.
These attacks come a year since the 7 October 2023 raid by Hamas on Israel,
Which resulted in the deaths of roughly 1,200 Israelis and took over 250 people hostage. Since this incident, intense bombardments in Gaza continued unabated, with the Hamas-run health ministry estimating that more than 41,870 Palestinians have been killed and more than 97,000 have been injured since the conflict was initiated.
The Israeli Defense Forces,
IDF say that in an effort by Hamas to reconstruct its infrastructure in the area, the military has been amped up to operate in northern Gaza, specifically around Jabalia. Part of an ongoing ground operation, the military attacked dozens of targets within the area as it warned civilians to vacate northern Gaza, still a hazardous combat zone. Meanwhile, Israel has opened the humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, though it is more limited than an earlier variation of it during the conflict.
