Dozens killed in massive Israeli bombing of school, mosque in Gaza

The Gaza government says Israel has committed “two horrific massacres” in the central Gaza Strip, killing 24 Palestinians and injuring 93 others.

In a statement released on Sunday, the government media office in Gaza said the casualties came after the Israeli military bombed the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque, near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and the Ibn Rushd School.

It added that both sites, situated in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah Governorate, were sheltering hundreds of displaced people.

The Israeli army claimed that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque and the Ibn Rushd School were the command centers of the Palestinian Hamas resistance group.

However, the regime has consistently failed to provide any substantial evidence to support these baseless claims since the war began last year, which appear to serve as a convenient narrative to justify military strikes on civilian infrastructure.

Also in its statement, the media office said Sunday’s crimes followed a series of deadly attacks by the Israeli military on 27 Gaza homes, schools, and displacement centers over the past 48 hours.

Medical sources announced that 60 Palestinians had been killed and dozens more were injured in the attacks in various areas of the Gaza Strip.

“These new crimes come amidst a worsening health crisis in Gaza,” the media office said.

“Humanitarian and medical efforts are also facing enormous challenges due to the ongoing genocide, while the international, Arab, and regional communities remain shamefully silent and powerless.”

The media office further held the Israeli regime and the US administration fully responsible for the ongoing brutal aggression against Gaza.

“We urge the international community and all global and UN organizations to pressure the occupation to halt the genocide and stop the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip,” it said.

Hamas also issued a press statement in denunciation of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, as well as in the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.

It also called on the Arab and Islamic nations and the freedom-seeking people to keep holding “angry marches to pressure and demand an end to the genocide and condemn this occupation and pursue and try its Nazi leaders.”

Israel unleashed its genocidal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out its historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 41,825 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 96,910 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

In a violation of international law, Israel has been deliberately targeting Gaza schools, mosques, and hospitals in the besieged enclave, which were being used as shelters by civilians.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir