Several Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on mosque in Jabalia in northern Gaza

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) - Several Palestinians were killed and others injured early Tuesday by Israeli airstrikes that targeted a mosque in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Medical sources said that “several martyrs and nine wounded were transported to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli occupation’s aircraft targeting the Al-Fakhoura Martyrs Mosque located west of the Jabalia refugee camp.”

Israeli army vehicles also infiltrated the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, besieging a school sheltering displaced people and opening fire on them, said WAFA.

Local sources reported an outage in communications and internet services in Beit Hanoun coinciding with the incursion by Israeli troops.

The news agency added that the Israeli army continued firing heavy machine guns west of the town of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza as well as artillery shelling in the eastern and northern regions of the Gaza Strip.​​​​​​​

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

Nearly 33,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and nearly 76,500 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling ordering it to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.