Balanced on a steep slab of fissured concrete with rods of twisted metal poking out and the remnants of a dome slanted at a 45-degree angle behind him, a young muezzin in a baseball cap calls Muslims to prayer from atop a bombarded mosque in Gaza.

According to Reuters, the minaret, where the muezzin would usually stand, was still upright but appeared precarious, with a chunk missing from the balustrade at the top and the base resting on the jumbled ruin of the Al-Touba Mosque in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The mosque is one of many in Gaza that have been hit by Israeli strikes in its conflict with Hamas. Israel accuses the group of using mosques to conceal tunnel shafts, missile and rocket launch sites, and other infrastructure.

Hamas denies this and accuses Israel of targeting places of worship including mosques and churches and making false accusations aimed at justifying civilian deaths.

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