Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip — On Sunday, Israeli air forces conducted targeted strikes in the central Gaza Strip, hitting a mosque and a school in the densely populated area of Deir al Balah, leading to at least 24 Palestinian deaths and wounding 93 others.

According to Namibia Press Agency, the strikes were part of a broader Israeli offensive against Hamas, initiated in response to an incursion by Hamas militants into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) asserted that the bombed locations, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque and the Ibn Rushd School, were being used by Hamas as command-and-control centers. The mosque and school had been sheltering hundreds of displaced individuals, as stated by the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.

The recent military actions are part of an ongoing conflict that has seen a sharp rise in Palestinian casualties, with the death toll from Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip reaching 41,825, as reported by Gaza-based health authorities on Saturday.