An Israeli strike on a mosque in the Gaza Strip early Sunday killed at least 19 people, Palestinian officials said, as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Beirut in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region. Displaced people were sheltering at the mosque that was struck near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. A further four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town. The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence. An AP journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead from the strike on the mosque were all men.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, home to a densely populated refugee camp. Israeli forces encircled Jabaliya as warplanes struck militant sites inside, the military said. Israel reiterated its call for the complete evacuation of northern Gaza. Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained in the heavily destroyed north after earlier Israeli warnings that sent around a million fleeing to the south. "We are in a new phase of the war," the military said in leaflets dropped over the area. "These areas are considered dangerous combat zones." Palestinian residents reported heavy Israeli strikes across northern Gaza. The Civil Defense—first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government—said several homes and buildings had been hit and they were not able to reach them because of the bombardment.
Residents posted about the airstrikes and mourned their relatives on social media. Imad Alarabid said in a Facebook post that an airstrike on his home in Jabaliya killed a dozen family members, including his parents. Hassan Hamd, a freelance TV journalist whose footage had aired on Al Jazeera and other networks, was killed in artillery shelling on his home in Jabaliya. Saeed Abu Elaish, a Health Ministry medic, said he was wounded and bleeding. "Pray for us," he wrote on Facebook.
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