At least 24 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli air strikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
Palestinian health officials said at least another 20 people had been killed since Saturday night in northern Gaza, after the army sent tanks into areas there for the first time in months, while urging residents to go to what it called safe zones in the south.
The Israeli military said it had conducted “precise strikes on Hamas terrorists” who were operating within command and control centres embedded in Ibn Rushd School and the Shuhada al-Aqsa Mosque in the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
Hamas rejects Israeli accusations it uses civilian facilities such as schools, hospitals and mosques for military purposes.
The strikes on the mosque and the school came as the war between Israel and the Hamas in the enclave approaches its one-year mark, 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 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.
Pushing into northern Gaza
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks pushed into the northern Gaza areas of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia overnight, and planes hit several houses, killing at least 20 people, according to medics.
The Israeli military said its forces had encircled the area of Jabalia, the focus of its operations.
In one air strike, 10 people were killed in one house, and five others in another strike on a second home and residents described it as one of the worst nights in many months.
Palestinian and UN officials say no place in the enclave is safe including the humanitarian zones where Israeli missiles have hit several times.
“The war is back,” said a Palestinian man from Jabalia, before he and his family left for Gaza City on Sunday.