Israel escalated its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Beirut amid concerns about an intensifying conflict in the region with Iran and its military proxy groups, including Hezbollah and Hamas.
Palestinian officials said this weekend that an Israeli attack on a mosque killed at least 19 people, The Associated Press reported, noting that it was adjacent to a hospital and was functioning as a shelter for displaced people.
The AP also reported that a second nearby strike on a school killed four people.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the mosque was functioning as a Hezbollah command center and was “used to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israel… in defiance of the laws of armed conflict.”
The IDF said it sent notices to residents before the strike and talked to “significant parties” in the areas to warn them.
“The IDF has been making great efforts to prevent harming uninvolved civilians and civilian infrastructure, in contrast to the cynical use of the Hezbollah terrorist organization of civilian infrastructure,” the IDF said in a statement.
An AP journalist counted the bodies in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue, according to the news wire service, which reported that all people counted were men, citing hospital records.
The latest development comes amid a widening battle Israel faces with Hamas in Gaza and with Hezbollah in the north. Hezbollah has bombarded Israel with air strikes for the last year, displacing the Israeli population in the north. Israel has recently sharpened its engagement with Hezbollah, opening a new front in the war along the Lebanon border.
After Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week, Israel has vowed to strike Iran itself.
The Associated Press contributed.