Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in a bombing of a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday night but the Israel Defence Force (IDF) has denied responsibility, instead blaming Hamas rockets for the blast.
There have been approximately 500 casualties as a result of the bombing at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said.
He estimated that between 200 and 300 of those were killed. CNN has reported that Hamas claims more than 500 people have been killed.
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The Palestinian foreign ministry referred to the strike as a “cold-blooded massacre” in a statement released on Tuesday.
The hospital attack will “forever remain a stain on the conscience of humanity that has been witnessing the horrors committed against the Palestinian people without taking action to stop it,” the statement read.
“Every rule of international law is being shredded as thousands are mercilessly massacred and millions of people are being stripped of their humanity, subjected to wanton killing, starvation and forced transfer, with no end in sight as Israeli occupying forces … continue to pound the Gaza Strip, with thousands of missiles and bombs targeting civilian areas by air, land and sea and threats to commit mass murders.”
Doctors Without Borders said the bombing of Al-Ahli Hospital was “absolutely unacceptable” and called the incident a “massacre”.
“Nothing justifies this shocking attack on a hospital and its many patients and health workers, as well as the people who sought shelter there,” the organisation said in a press release.
“Hospitals are not a target. This bloodshed must stop.”
If the estimated death toll is correct, it would be the deadliest incident during the current round of violence on the Gaza Strip.
“We heard about the hospital massacre an hour ago, and at the time we huddled around a phone broadcasting live Al Jazeera coverage,” Mohammad Ghalayini, 44, an air quality scientist who returned to his homeland of Gaza from Manchester, England, in September for a career break told NBC.
Now, “we’re sitting in a room lit by an LED torch and we’re all in silence, shock and disbelief — silence apart from the deafening sound of Israeli drones above,” Ghalayini said.
The exact cause of the explosion at the hospital has not been confirmed, but Israel’s authorities have denied responsibility.
Israel has been bombing Gaza since Hamas, the militant group that governs the Strip, launched its attack 10 days ago.
Hamas militants entered Israel via land, air and sea as Israelis were wrapping up seven-day-long celebrations for the Jewish festival of Sukkot.
In Gaza, more than 3000 people have been killed and more than 12,500 injured. In Israel, 1400 people have been killed and almost 4000 wounded.
The Israeli military, which says it is only targeting Hamas positions, said Tuesday the hospital was not one of its targets.
“A hospital is a highly sensitive building and not an IDF target,” the spokesperson said.
In a statement on its Telegram account, the Israeli Defence Force claimed its intelligence showed the explosion was caused by Hamas rockets.
“The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said.
“Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has cancelled his meeting with US President Joe Biden after the hospital explosion.
Abbas is travelling back to Ramallah and has called for an urgent meeting of the Palestinian leadership tonight following the strike on the hospital.
-With CNN and NBC
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