Mosque strike kills 19 as Israel bombards north Gaza, south Lebanon

People search through rubble in the dark.

By Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy

Oct. 6, 2024 Updated 1:26 PM PT

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — 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 Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region.

A year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel along the border since the war in Gaza began. Israel also has vowed to strike Iran after a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week. Iran’s state media said some flights would halt until 6 a.m. Monday, citing “operational restrictions.”

The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel. Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have joined in with long-distance strikes on Israel.

Israel is on high alert ahead of memorial events for the Oct. 7 attack, while rallies continue around the world marking the anniversary. A stabbing and shooting at the central bus station in Beersheba killed a border police officer, police said. They did not identify the assailant but were treating it as a terror attack.

The Israeli strike hit a mosque where displaced people sheltered near the main hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al Balah. Another four were killed in a strike on a school-turned-shelter near the town. The military said both strikes targeted militants.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed those killed at the mosque were all men.

The Israeli military announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, home to a refugee camp dating to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israel has carried out several operations there during the last year, only to see militants regroup.

The military said three soldiers were severely wounded in Sunday’s fighting in northern Gaza.

Israel reiterated its call, from the early weeks of the war, for the complete evacuation of northern Gaza. Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained in the heavily destroyed north and about a million fled 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.” A later statement said three projectiles were identified crossing from northern Gaza into Israeli territory, with no injuries reported.

Frantic residents fled again. “Since Oct. 7 to the present day, this is the 12th time that I and my children, eight individuals, have been homeless and thrown into the streets and do not know where to go,” said one, Samia Khader.

Palestinians reported heavy Israeli strikes. The Civil Defense — first responders operating under the Hamas-run government — said it recovered three bodies, including a woman and a child, after a strike hit a home in the Shati refugee camp.

Residents mourned. Imad Alarabid said on Facebook that an airstrike on his Jabaliya home killed a dozen family members, including his parents. Saeed Abu Elaish, a Health Ministry medic, said he was wounded.

“Pray for us,” he wrote on Facebook.

Hassan Hamd, a freelance TV journalist whose footage had aired on Al Jazeera, was killed in shelling on his home in Jabaliya. Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera reporter in northern Gaza, confirmed his death.

Israel’s military says it has expanded the so-called humanitarian zone in southern Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge in tent camps there with little food, water or toilets. Israel has carried out strikes in the zone against what it says are militants hiding among civilians.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but they indicate that at least half the dead are women and children.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took another 250 hostage. They still hold around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

In Beirut, airstrikes lighted up the skyline overnight and explosions echoed across the southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, as Israel struck what it said were Hezbollah sites.

It was the heaviest bombardment since Sept. 23, when Israel escalated its air campaign. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes.

“Yesterday was a tragic night; it was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything,” resident Haytham Al-Darazi said. Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it “a night of terror.”

Targets included a gas station on the main highway leading to the Beirut airport and a warehouse for medical supplies, the news agency said. Some strikes set off a series of explosions, suggesting that ammunition stores were hit.

One strike killed three sisters and their aunt in the coastal village of Jiyyeh. “This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred are four women,” said a neighbor, Ali Al Hajj. No overall toll from the strikes has been reported.

Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, with some intercepted.

Hezbollah said it successfully targeted a group of Israeli soldiers in northern Israel “with a large rocket salvo, hitting them accurately.”

It is not possible to verify battlefield reports from either side.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes in less than two weeks. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group from its border so tens of thousands of Israeli citizens can return home.

Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, calling it a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and Israel’s military have traded fire almost daily.

Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in ground clashes that Israel says have killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a military base near the border on Sunday and called soldiers “the generation of victory.”

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated his call for a partial arms embargo on Israel — a demand that prompted an angry response from Netanyahu.

In a statement, Macron’s office said he favors a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza because a cease-fire is needed to stop the mounting violence and clear the way for political solutions for the security of “Israel and the whole Middle East.”

Netanyahu had described such calls by Macron as a “disgrace.” Macron’s office insisted that “France is Israel’s unfailing friend” and called Netanyahu’s remarks “excessive.”

Later on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders had spoken and agreed to promote “a dialogue” on the matter. Macron’s office called the discussion “frank” and said both leaders “accepted their divergence of views.”

Shurafa and Magdy write for the Associated Press. AP writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.