Israel Attacks Mosque in Gaza Claimed to be Hamas Weapon Storage

Israeli military doctors in Gaza. (Source: IDF)

JAKARTA - The Israeli military on Wednesday said it had attacked a mosque in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, which it claimed had been used by Hamas as a weapons storage facility.

AFP photos from Gaza City on Tuesday showed flames and a huge plume of smoke billowing over tents sheltering Gaza refugees during the attack on the al-Muttaqin Mosque.

Palestinians were seen combing through the vast pile of debris and ruins after the attack.

"Over the past week, (the Israeli military) attacked and dismantled several Hamas weapons storage facilities in the central and northern Gaza Strip," the Israeli military said, citing Al Arabiya from AFP (29/7).

"One of the storage facilities was established inside a mosque in the northern Gaza Strip," he added, saying early warnings had been given to civilians.

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

"Is this a ceasefire? Every day there are attacks, every hour, every breath. There are attacks everywhere. They threaten and attack, whether it's civilian vehicles or whatever they bomb," said Shehadeh Badawi, an eyewitness, to AFP after the incident.

Meanwhile, Amir Abu al-Amrain, director general of the ministry of wakaf and religious affairs in the Gaza Strip, said Israeli forces had "completely destroyed" the mosque in an air raid.

"The occupation uses false pretexts - such as the alleged existence of military sites - to justify this crime," he said, calling for urgent intervention to protect mosques and places of worship.

A fragile ceasefire is still in place between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but it has not stopped violence in the Gaza Strip, where 1,207 people have died since the ceasefire began in October 2021.

Israeli fire continues to regularly target Palestinians whom the military says are militants, while efforts to secure a lasting deal to end the war have stalled.

As of March 24, 2026, the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, has verified damage to 164 sites since the start of the Gaza war triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Fourteen of them are religious sites.