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The AlAhli Arab Hospital, funded by the Anglican Church, has been housing those injured by Israeli airstrikes in recent days
October 17, 2023, 3:51 p.m. 03
Updated 19 minutes ago
A suspected Israeli airstrike on a hospital in the Gaza Strip killed at least 500 people, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied that the attack came from Israel.
“An analysis of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) operational systems indicates that rocket fire was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing near AlAhli Hospital in Gaza at the time of impact,” Netanyahu wrote in X ( formerly Twitter). ).
“Several sources we have indicate that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch that hit the hospital in Gaza,” the Israeli prime minister said.
The Islamic Jihad group is an ally of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
If the Palestinian authorities’ statements are confirmed, it would be another in the series of airstrikes Israel has carried out in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in which at least 1,300 people were killed by members of the Islamic group.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, at least 4,200 people had been killed in attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Images from Al Ahli Arab Hospital show scenes of chaos bloodied and mutilated victims being taken away on stretchers.
Bodies and destroyed vehicles can be seen in the rubble scattered on the road.
Videos published online, which have not yet been confirmed by the BBC, show a large explosion moments before.
According to local residents, hundreds of injured people sought shelter in a corridor on the hospital grounds.
Civil defense officials say the explosion was the result of an Israeli airstrike and that hundreds of people were trapped in the rubble.
The Hamas government’s media office in Gaza classified the attack on the hospital as a “war crime.”
“The hospital cared for hundreds of sick and injured people, as well as people who were forcibly displaced from their homes,” Hamas said.
The statement said that “hundreds of victims still lie under the rubble.”
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According to Palestinian authorities, at least 500 people were killed in the attack
World Health Organization (WHO) DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he “strongly condemns” the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital.
He said initial reports suggested hundreds of deaths and injuries at the site.
“We demand immediate protection of civilians and health care and the lifting of evacuation orders,” he posted on X.
AlAhli Arab Hospital is funded by the Anglican Church, and Richard Sewell, principal of St. George’s College one of the church’s leading figures in Jerusalem posted on social media that the hospital was “straight from an Israeli attack was hit. Rocket”.
He said hundreds of women and children were killed and called the act a “premeditated murder of vulnerable civilians.”
“The bombs have to stop now. “There is no possible justification for this,” Sewell said.