Israeli planes early Sunday struck a compound beneath a mosque in the occupied West Bank that the military said was used by terrorists to stage attacks, and Palestinian medics said at least one person was killed.
Israel said the site beneath the Al-Ansar mosque in Jenin refugee camp belongs to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants responsible for attacks in recent months.
“Recently, information was received indicating that the terrorists who were neutralized were organizing an imminent terrorist attack,” the military said in a statement.
The military released images purporting to show an entrance to a bunker beneath the mosque. A diagram was also released showing where militants had stored weapons there.
Footage on social media that appeared to show the site of the airstrike showed a gaping hole in one of the mosque’s exterior walls surrounded by rubble.
Several dozen Palestinians survey the damage as ambulance sirens wail in the background.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Service said at least one Palestinian was killed and three others were injured. It was previously reported that two people had been killed.
Video intended to show the damage to the mosque and emergency services on site
The Israeli airstrike is at least the second in recent days to hit the West Bank, where violence has increased since Hamas gunmen from Gaza launched a deadly rampage in Israel on October 7 that killed more than 1,400 people.
The Jenin refugee camp, a stronghold of Palestinian militants, was the subject of a major Israeli military operation earlier this year.
The Israeli Air Force said in a statement: “As part of a joint IDF-ISA operation, the IDF carried out an airstrike on an underground terrorist compound at Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin; The mosque was home to a terrorist cell made up of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist operatives who were organizing an impending terrorist attack.
“The terrorist cell also carried out a terrorist attack in the area of the security fence on October 14, in which an explosive device was detonated through cellular activation by terrorist forces who arrived at the scene.”
Israel bombarded southern Gaza with airstrikes early Sunday and said it would step up attacks in the enclave’s north as the United States committed to providing more aid to Palestinians who are running out of food, water, medicine and fuel.
Palestinian media reported that at least 11 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis. Palestinian media also reported that Israel was attacking the southern city of Rafah.
Immediately after the attack, footage circulated widely online purporting to show rescue workers on site providing assistance next to the damaged building.
People inspect the damage after an Israeli strike hit a compound beneath a mosque that the Israeli military said was used by militants to organize attacks in Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on October 22, 2023
People inspect the damage after an Israeli strike hit a compound beneath a mosque that the Israeli military said was used by militants to organize attacks in Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on October 22, 2023
The Israel Defense Forces posted on social media after the attack
Under the pictures of the site it was written: “The IDF and ISA have just carried out an airstrike on a Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist compound at the Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin.” Recent IDF information revealed that the mosque was used as a command center planning and carrying out terrorist attacks against civilians.
The overnight attacks came hours after Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari urged Gazans to move south out of the danger zone.
“For your own safety, go south.” “We will continue to attack in the Gaza City area and increase attacks,” Hagari said in a briefing to Israeli reporters on Saturday.
Israel is facing increasing pressure from the West to delay its ground offensive in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.
After several inconclusive wars since seizing power there in 2007, Israel has massed tanks and troops near the fenced border around the narrow coastal enclave for a planned ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas.
In a video distributed by the Israeli military on Saturday, Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi told troops: “We will advance into the Gaza Strip … to destroy Hamas operatives and Hamas infrastructure, and we will keep the memories in our minds” of the images and those who fell on Saturday two weeks ago.’
Israeli troops have been conducting live-fire exercises “in preparation for the next phase of the war,” footage released by the Israeli army showed on Saturday.
Israeli media reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his cabinet late Saturday to discuss the expected invasion.
Smoke rises as Israeli airstrikes continue on their 15th day in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, October 21, 2023
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israel’s military spokesman, said the country plans to step up its airstrikes starting Saturday to prepare for the next phase of the war.
“We will increase our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next phases of the war.” “We will increase attacks starting today,” Hagari said, repeating his call for Gaza City residents to stay away for security reasons to go south.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas but has offered few details about what it envisions for the Gaza Strip if it succeeds.
Yifat Shasha-Biton, a cabinet minister, said there was broad consensus in the government that there needed to be a “buffer zone” in Gaza to keep Palestinians away from the border.
An Israeli ground attack would likely result in a dramatic escalation of casualties on both sides in urban fighting.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in the war in Israel – mostly civilians killed during the Hamas attack.
More than 4,300 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. This also includes the controversial number of victims of a hospital explosion.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Saturday that more than a million people had been displaced from the territory.
An IDF soldier jumps from the front of a tank in southern Israel on October 21, 2023
IDF soldiers clean the barrel of a tank in southern Israel on October 21, 2023
Hamas said it fired rockets into Tel Aviv on Saturday in response to Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 50 people and wounded dozens, according to Gaza’s health ministry and Hamas media.
Amid growing international concerns that the conflict could escalate into a regional war, Blinken on Saturday warned Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati in an appeal that the Lebanese people would be affected if his country was drawn in, the State Department said.
Israel said its planes attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Saturday and one of its soldiers was hit by an anti-tank missile in cross-border fighting, with the Iran-backed group killing six of its fighters.
Israel on Saturday described as “propaganda” Hamas’ claim that the terror group wanted to release two more hostages on humanitarian grounds but that Israel had refused to take them.
Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, said Qatar was informed of the group’s intention to release the two others on Friday, the same day Americans Judith Tai Ranaan and her daughter Natalie were released.
This aerial photo shows humanitarian aid trucks arriving from Egypt after passing through the Rafah border crossing and arriving at a camp in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 21, 2023
On Saturday, the first humanitarian aid convoy allowed to enter the besieged Gaza Strip since the outbreak of war arrived via the Rafah border crossing.
The United Nations said the 20-truck convoy contained life-saving aid that would be received by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
However, the UN Office for Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) said the amount of goods imported on Saturday was about 4% of the daily average of imports into Gaza before hostilities and was only a fraction of what was needed after 13 days of siege of an enclave, in of 2.3 million people live.
US President Joe Biden welcomed the arrival of the aid after days of intensive negotiations and said the United States was committed to ensuring more aid arrived through the Rafah border crossing.
“We will continue to work with all parties,” Biden said in a statement.