Al-Muttaqin Mosque strike destroys Gaza City mosque amid wider attacks
Israeli jets destroyed Al-Muttaqin Mosque in Gaza City as another strike killed one Palestinian in Nuseirat, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
An Al-Muttaqin Mosque strike by Israeli jets destroyed the Gaza City mosque on Tuesday, while a separate attack in central Gaza killed one Palestinian, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. The attacks added to civilian danger in Gaza as displaced families shelter in tents and public spaces.
Al Jazeera and Reuters reported that Israel’s attacks on Gaza killed at least one Palestinian, wounded more than 12 people, and destroyed both the mosque and tents used by hundreds of displaced Palestinians. The mosque was near the Young Men’s Christian Association building in Gaza City, according to the reports.
A photo distributed by AFP showed Palestinians running as smoke and fire rose from the strike on Al-Muttaqin Mosque. Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said Israeli warplanes carried out multiple strikes concentrated in central and northern Gaza.
What happened at Al-Muttaqin Mosque in Gaza?
Israeli jets hit Al-Muttaqin Mosque in Gaza City on Tuesday, destroying the mosque, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. Abu Azzoum said the area had received a warning, but that residents had only a short period to take protective action.
In Nuseirat refugee camp, Israel killed one Palestinian in a separate strike, Abu Azzoum reported after speaking with health officials. He said that attack hit a group of Palestinians in a crowded market and wounded at least 20 others.
Abu Azzoum described a continuing sense of fear among residents because of the possibility of further Israeli strikes later in the night. Al Jazeera and Reuters did not report an Israeli military statement on the mosque strike or the Nuseirat attack.
The Gaza attacks came after Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday approved a measure that would, in theory, allow the first members of an International Stabilization Force to enter Gaza, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. The force is part of the US-brokered ceasefire arrangement that began last October, according to the reports.
What is happening in the occupied West Bank?
In the occupied West Bank, eight Palestinians left their home in Abu Najim, near Bethlehem, after Israeli settlers set the building on fire, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Local residents said settlers also burned a car and wrote graffiti on the building’s walls before the fire was set.
Al Jazeera and Reuters reported an increase in settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including attacks in homes and public areas. The reports did not identify the people who fled the Abu Najim home.
Israeli authorities are also taking more Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported. Wafa said Israel issued military orders to seize about 200 dunums, or 20 hectares, of land from towns in the Jenin governorate.
Tareq Aghbaria, a Jenin settlement affairs official, told Wafa that land confiscation orders have increased recently, especially over the past two days. He said the orders were focused mainly in southern parts of Jenin, including Arrabeh, Qabatiya and Misilya.
Wafa cited the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission as saying 14 of the orders allocate land for building and expanding military roads. The commission said the roads would total more than 11.3 kilometers and would serve a network of new colonial outposts approved by the Israeli government on land in the governorate.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.