At least 18 killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza mosque

6/10/2024 12:06

        At least 18 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a Gaza mosque early on Sunday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
        
        The strike on the mosque, near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, came as the war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian enclave approaches its first anniversary.
        
        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."
        
        The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.