Gaza mosque hit as Israel says Hamas stored weapons

A Gaza mosque was hit in an Israeli strike, with the Israeli military saying Wednesday that Hamas had used a mosque in the northern Gaza Strip as a weapons storage facility.

AFP photos from Gaza City on Tuesday showed fire and a large plume of smoke rising above tents housing displaced Gazans during a strike on Al-Muttaqin Mosque. Palestinians were later seen searching through piles of rubble and debris.

The Israeli military said it had struck and dismantled several Hamas weapons storage facilities in central and northern Gaza over the past week. It said one storage facility had been set up inside a mosque and that advance warnings were given to civilians.

AFP footage showed dozens of Palestinians evacuating the area before the mosque was hit.

Amir Abu Al-Amrain, director general of the ministry of awqaf and religious affairs in the Gaza Strip, said Israeli forces had “completely destroyed” the mosque. He rejected Israel’s claim, calling it a false pretext, and called for urgent intervention to protect mosques and places of worship.

Eyewitness Shehadeh Badawi said attacks were continuing despite the ceasefire. “Is this a ceasefire? Every day there are attacks, every hour, every breath,” he told AFP.

A fragile ceasefire remains in place between Israel and Hamas, but violence has continued in Gaza. The item said 1,207 people have been killed since the truce began in October 2025.

As of March 24, 2026, UNESCO had verified damage to 164 sites since the start of the Gaza war triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Fourteen of those were religious sites.