AT LEAST 19 Palestinians were massacred during an Israeli attack on a mosque in the Gaza Strip today, Palestinian officials said.

The deadly attack came as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Beirut, in its expanding war across the region.

Displaced people were sheltering at the mosque that was struck near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.