Earlier, workers in the first aid services had spoken of five dead and 20 injured.
The victims include children, according to the agency.
The bombing of the mosque, near Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Bala, the central part of the Gaza Strip, came on the eve of the anniversary of the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Eyewitnesses earlier stressed that the number of victims might increase greatly, as the Islamic mosque was turned into a reception center for internally displaced persons.
The Israeli military confirmed the bombing of the place of worship.
In a statement, it said it “conducted a precision strike against Hamas terrorists operating inside a command and control center embedded in a structure that was formerly the ‘Suhada al-Aqsa’ mosque in the Deir al-Bala area.”
The war between Israel and Hamas, part of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was sparked when members of the Palestinian Islamist movement’s military wing launched an unprecedented raid in southern Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and injuring more about 250 hostages, according to a Reuters count based on official Israeli data.
Israel’s wide-ranging military operations have since killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled enclave. Almost all of the Gaza Strip’s roughly 2.3 million people are suffering from a severe food crisis, and Israel is facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government rejects.
The Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah announced that it repelled an “attempt” to infiltrate the Israeli army into the border on Saturday night into Sunday, after several days of fighting on the Lebanese-Israeli border.
In a statement, the Shiite armed movement said that “a group of soldiers of the Israeli enemy tried to infiltrate (…) Blinda” but its fighters targeted them “with artillery fire” and “forced them to retreat”.
On the other hand, the Israeli army announced that Hezbollah launched about 130 rockets against the country’s territory. No casualties or damage have been reported at this stage.
Lebanon’s national news agency ANI reported at least five Israeli shelling in and around a southern suburb of Beirut, four of which were “very heavy”, shortly after the Israeli military ordered civilians to immediately evacuate various areas of the stronghold. of this Shiite movement Hezbollah.
AFP journalists report hearing deafening explosions and seeing smoke rising from the sector.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, according to ANI, which also reported the presence of low-flying Israeli reconnaissance drones.
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