“Hundreds” of people are feared dead from an air strike on a hospital that was treating patients and sheltering Palestinians in the centre of Gaza City, Palestinian officials say.
As many as 500 people may have been killed – with bodies still buried beneath the rubble of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, major media outlets are reporting, citing Palestinian health authorities.
The blame was initially aimed at Israel, but the Israeli Defence Force has since denied responsibility and released a statement pointing at Hamas and a failed rocket.
Israel’s army said a “barrage of rockets” was fired by Hamas militants in Gaza near the hospital at the time it was hit.
“Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza.”
The Palestinian government said on Wednesday morning (AEDT) “hundreds of patients, wounded, and displaced people” had been in the Christian hospital compound when it blew up.
Palestinians who fled their homes ahead of Israel’s expected ground invasion had sought safety there as rockets rained down on the Gaza Strip.
The first media reports from the scene describe absolute horror, chaos and carnage after the strike which caused a huge blaze to erupt.
The BBC says bloodied and maimed casualties are being rushed on stretchers and there are dead bodies lying in the rubble.
An unconfirmed video circulating widely on social media shows a fiery explosion lighting up the black night shortly before the hospital was hit.
The hospital is reportedly funded by the Anglican Church. One of the church’s top figures in Jerusalem posted on X (Twitter) that the hospital had taken a “direct hit from an Israeli missile”.
“Early reports say hundreds of women and children killed. This is deliberate killing of vulnerable civilians. The bombs must stop now. There can be no possible justification for this,” Richard Sewell posted.
Tweet from @sgcjerusalem
The Palestinian government said the attack was “a new war crime committed by the occupation”.
There were also reports of six people killed in a strike on a school in Gaza where 4,000 people were taking shelter from the Israeli bombings.
An advisor to Israel’s prime minister, Mark Regev, told the BBC that “all indications are that this was not Israeli orders, that this was rather, a Hamas rocket that fell short.”
One of the first confirmed photos from the hospital in Gaza City. Photo: X (Twitter)
The incident is expected to spark an intense fallout in the region.
World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus strongly condemned the attack.
“We call for the immediate protection of civilians and health care, and for the evacuation orders to be reversed. #NotATarget,” he posted on X.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning.
A paediatric doctor at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza told Aljazeera news the bombing of hospitals was “unconscionable”.
“We are fighting to save wounded children, pregnant mothers, babies are being born here,” Dr Hussam Abu Safiya said.
Tweet from @DrTedros
The death toll in Gaza was at 3,000 people before the strike, since Israel began its largest-ever assault of the strip of land that’s home to 2 million Palestinians.
The Israeli death toll from terrorist attacks committed by Hamas militants was 1400.
‘Illegal’ evacuation
Earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it needed urgent access to Gaza to deliver aid and medical supplies amid a looming humanitarian crisis.
WHO said its supplies had been ready to go for three days, but teams had been unable to deliver it.
It said 2800 people have died and 11,000 have been injured in Gaza since Israeli air strikes started. About half of them were women and children.
The United Nations human rights office said Israel’s siege of Gaza and its evacuation order for the north of the enclave could amount to a forcible transfer of civilians and be in breach of international law.
UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Israel seemed to have made no effort to ensure the civilians temporarily evacuated in Gaza were provided with proper accommodation, as well as satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition.
Brennan said the WHO consistently appeals “that all parties to any conflict respect and adhere to international humanitarian law, as well as international human rights law”.
There have been 115 attacks on healthcare facilities and the majority of hospitals in Gaza were not functioning, with water and electricity, as well as medical supplies, scarce, officials said.
The agency said disease outbreaks are a risk and concerns are growing about the 350,000 people in Gaza with chronic diseases like diabetes, who are also struggling to get access to healthcare.
Israel is preparing a ground offensive aimed at eliminating Hamas militants in Gaza who killed 1300 people during a rampage through southern Israeli towns on October 7.
-with AAP
