Gaza residents have voiced grief and outrage after Hamas said Israel had bombed the enclave’s medieval Omari Mosque, causing widespread damage to a cherished landmark, Reuters reports.

Ahmed Nemer, 45, a tailor who lived on the street next to the Omari Mosque, said he was speechless after seeing the photographs of the damaged building from south Gaza, where he fled to seek shelter from the bombardment.

“I have been praying there and playing around it all through my childhood,” he said, accusing Israel of “trying to wipe out our memories”.

Mohammad Rajab, a taxi driver from Gaza City who has also fled to the south from his home a few hundred metres from the mosque, spoke of it as the city’s most important local landmark. “This is barbaric,” he said.