[1/4]Children sit in the back of an ambulance after an Israeli airstrike hit Al-Ahli Hospital, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, October 17, 2023. Portal/Mohammed Al-Masri Acquires License Rights
GAZA, Oct 17 (Portal) – An Israeli airstrike killed at least 300 people in a Gaza City hospital on Tuesday, authorities in the Palestinian enclave said, and the United Nations said an Israeli strike also hit one of its schools , which would be used as a school shelter.
A Gaza Civil Defense chief said on Al-Jazeera television that more than 300 people had been killed at Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital. A Gaza Health Ministry source said at least 500 people were killed. Both ministries report to the Hamas-led government.
The Israeli military said it was “still working on all the details” of reports of the attacks on the hospital and school.
Health authorities in Gaza say at least 3,000 people have been killed in Israel’s intense 11-day bombardment since Hamas militants raided Israeli cities on October 7, killing more than 1,300 soldiers and civilians.
News of the hospital explosion came on the eve of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel on Wednesday and on the occasion of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit on Tuesday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “It is not acceptable to attack a hospital.” Egypt said it condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms.”
Videos obtained by Portal showed several ambulances arriving at another hospital in Gaza and transporting injured people from Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital. A man was swaying and bleeding profusely from his head. A boy was carried on a stretcher.
Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) said an Israeli airstrike had killed at least six people after hitting one of its schools used as a shelter for displaced people.
The agency said dozens of people were injured by the strike, which caused “severe structural damage” to the school, where at least 4,000 people had sought refuge.
“They had and have nowhere else to go,” UNRWA quoted Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini as saying in a statement.
Hamas said the explosion at the hospital killed mostly displaced people. A senior official from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which operates in the West Bank but not the Gaza Strip, called it a massacre.
Reporting by Moaz Abd-Alaziz, Nidal al Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta; Additional reporting by Emily Rose; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
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