Deir Al-Balah, October 6: 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. Israel-Hamas War: Israeli Army Raid Al-Jazeera Office in Ramallah, Order Its Closure, Says Report.

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. Israel-Palestine Conflict: ‘Hamas Network Head Zahi Yaser Abd Al-Razeq Oufi in West Bank’s Tulkarm Eliminated’, Says IDF.

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.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)