At least 24 killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza mosque and school

At least 24 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes targeted a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday morning, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.

The strikes on the mosque and the school, near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, came as the war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas in the enclave approaches its first anniversary.

"The number of deaths rose to 21 and a large number of wounded as a result of the occupation (Israel) bombing of a mosque sheltering displaced people in front of the gate of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip," said agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

In its own statement, the Israeli military claimed it conducted "precise strikes on Hamas fighters" who were operating within command and control centers embedded in Ibn Rushd School and the Shuhada al-Aqsa Mosque in the area of Deir al Balah.

Israel's military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. It has also displaced nearly all of the enclave's 2.3 million people, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.