Apparent Israeli airstrike on mosque in central Gaza kills at least 18 people

An apparent Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people in central Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said.

:The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah,” the hospital said in a statement.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead were all men. Another two men were critically wounded, the hospital said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment about the strike on the mosque.

The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now nearing 42,000, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but many of the dead were women and children.

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