Gaza City: An Israeli Air Force fighter jet dropped a bomb on the al-Tawheed Wal Sunna mosque in central Gaza City on Sunday morning, September 7, according to Palestinian media reports. The bomb, which struck the religious site on Al-Nafaq Street, occurred as fighting intensified across the besieged Gaza Strip.
Video footage shared by Gaza-based journalist Abdelrahman M Sobaih on Instagram shows a massive explosion engulfing the mosque in flames, sending smoke and debris billowing across the neighbourhood.
In a separate attack nearby, prominent preacher Sheikh Radwan al-Nakhala, known locally as Abu al-Mundhir, was killed after an Israeli airstrike targeted the al-Nakhala family home next to Al-Tawba Mosque in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood.
According to Quds News Network, Israeli forces had issued a warning call urging evacuation. Al-Nakhala, however, refused to leave and was later found dead beneath the rubble.
At least 87 Palestinians were killed and 409 others injured in the past 24 hours, according to medical sources in Gaza. The total Palestinian death toll since October 2023 has now reached 64,368, with 162,776 more injured. Health officials report that the majority of casualties are women and children.
Over the past day, five more people have died from starvation and severe malnutrition, bringing the total number of hunger-related deaths in Gaza to 387, including 138 children, according to local health authorities.
On August 22, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) — the UN-backed global hunger monitoring body — officially declared a famine in Gaza for the first time. Since the IPC alert, 109 famine-related deaths have been recorded, including 23 children.
Aid agencies estimate that around 900,000 children in Gaza are experiencing hunger, with at least 70,000 reaching the stage of clinical malnutrition.
Renowned Palestinian scholar dies of starvation
Among the recent casualties of Gaza’s worsening crisis is prominent Palestinian academic and poet Dr Omar Harb, who died on Thursday, September 4, from severe malnutrition. Harb, a cancer patient, had been displaced and living in a makeshift tent, unable to access food, water, or medical care due to Israel’s blockade and continued bombardment.
Once weighing nearly 120 kilograms, Harb had reportedly dropped to less than 40 kilograms in his final days. He lost 26 family members during the conflict and saw five family homes destroyed. Despite his deteriorating condition, Harb continued to offer psychological support to traumatised residents.
Harb was a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Egypt and a respected figure in Palestinian literary and academic circles. His death has further highlighted the devastating human cost of the ongoing war.
