DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike on a mosque in the Gaza Strip early Sunday killed at least 19 people, Palestinian officials said, as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Beirut in its widening war on Iran-allied militant groups across the region.

Palestinian medical officials say an apparent Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people in central Gaza.

At least 24 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes targeted a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the

The number of people displaced in southern Lebanon as a result of Israeli airstrikes may be approaching half a million, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib, who stressed that "the war in Lebanon will not help the Israelis return to their homes, and negotiations are the only way to do so."

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 Israeli military said its air forces struck Hezbollah fighters inside a mosque in southern Lebanon overnight, claiming the terrorists were operating a command center from the mosque. Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it launched rockets at an Israeli air base.