Hundreds of civilians have been killed in an explosion at a Gaza City hospital, which Hamas says was caused by an Israeli airstrike.
The al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was packed with wounded Palestinians and those seeking shelter when the strike hit on Tuesday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The death toll has not been confirmed but may be higher than 500, meaning it may be the deadliest attack in the 11 days since Israel launched an unrelenting bombing campaign against Gaza, in retaliation for the assault Hamas launched on October 7.
The Israeli Defence Force has denied being responsible and a spokesperson on X, formerly known as Twitter, said a misfiring rocket by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a smaller militant group based in the Gaza Strip, was to blame.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X: "The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF."Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children."
Daoud Shehab, a spokesman for the PIJ, denied the IDF's claim in a statement to news agency Reuters.
The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF.
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 17, 2023
Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children.
“This is a lie and fabrication, it is completely incorrect," he said. "The occupation is trying to cover for the horrifying crime and massacre they committed against civilians.”
Hamas called the hospital explosion "a horrific massacre". It said in a statement that most of the casualties were displaced families, patients, children and women.
Meanwhile Hamas leader Ismail Haniyehi said: "The hospital massacre confirms the enemy's brutality and the extent of his feeling of defeat," he said, adding that the attack will be "a new turning point."
Video the Associated Press confirmed was from the hospital showed fire engulfing the building and the hospital's grounds strewn with bodies, many of them young children.Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has pulled out of a meeting with Joe Biden following the incident, which has been condemned by the international community.
Mr Abbas was scheduled to join Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at a summit in Jordan on Wednesday, to discuss the latest Israel-Hamas war with US president Mr Biden.
But a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday evening he was withdrawing to protest the alleged Israeli airstrike on the hospital.
Mr Abbas has declared three days of mourning following the incident, according to state media reports.
Meanwhile a statement from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation said: "What is taking place is genocide. We call on the international community to intervene immediately to stop this massacre. Silence is no longer acceptable."
"There are scores of dismembered and crushed bodies, baths of blood," Izzat El-Reshiq, a senior Hamas member, added.
Mark Regev, the senior adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister, told BBC News Israeli authorities believe a Hamas rocket was to blame for the blast at the al-Ahli hospital.
"We know that at the time of this tragedy in Gaza, there was a huge barrage against targets in central Israel. We had the siren here in Tel Aviv, and I went to a bomb shelter," he said.
"We know they fired rockets at that same time. Hamas put out a statement that they were sending a long-range rocket on Haifa [northern Israel] at this time."
"Now no rocket actually reached Haifa. Where did that rocket go? Where did it land?"
The Red Cross said it was "shocked and horrified", while the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it "strongly condemns" the incident.
"This attack is unprecedented in scale," said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the West Bank and Gaza. "We have seen consistent attacks on healthcare in the occupied Palestinian territory."
International humanitarian law is clear
— ICRC (@ICRC) October 17, 2023
Civilians - Medical professionals - Hospitals - Ambulances - Clinics
All are protected under the law of war. pic.twitter.com/EyeMZzdp3z
Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said there were patients, healthcare workers and internally displaced people in the hospital when it was struck.
"The hospital was one of 20 in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military," he said.
"The order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced," he added.
International medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said it was "horrified", labelling the alleged strike "a massacre".
"Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed. This is a massacre. It is absolutely unacceptable," it said on X, formerly Twitter.
It quoted MSF doctor Ghassan Abu Sittah, who was at the scene of the explosion, and said: "We were operating in the hospital, there was a strong explosion, and the ceiling fell on the operating room. This is a massacre."
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "This is an appalling and devastating loss of innocent lives."The Ahli hospital is run by the Anglican church," he added, renewing his appeals "for civilians to be protected in this devastating war".
Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said an Israeli air strike had killed at least six people at one of its schools, which had been functioning as a shelter for displaced people.
.@WHO strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in north Gaza.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 17, 2023
Early reports indicate hundreds of deaths and injuries.
We call for the immediate protection of civilians and health care, and for the evacuation orders to be reversed.#NotATarget https://t.co/6I4t99WV03
Health authorities in Gaza say at least 3,000 people have been killed in Israel's 11-day bombardment since Hamas militants rampaged into Israeli towns and kibbutzes on October 7, killing more than 1,300 people, mainly civilians.
The violence raged as Washington announced that US President Joe Biden would visit Israel on Wednesday to show support for its war on Hamas.
Meanwhile, reports suggest Rishi Sunak could visit Israel as soon as Thursday, as concerns grow about the crisis in the region.
The Prime Minister could reportedly embark on a wider trip to the region including stops in Jordan and Egypt, Sky News reported.
Israel has flattened parts of densely urbanised Gaza with a barrage of air strikes, driven around half of its 2.3 million population from their homes, and imposed a total blockade on the enclave, halting food, fuel and medical supplies.
Water and food supplies are running dangerously low in the besieged enclave and hospital fuel reserves are expected to run out within the next 24 hours, putting thousands of injured patients at risk, aid agencies have warned.
More than a million Palestinians have fled their homes, and 60 per cent are now in the eight-mile area south of the evacuation zone, the UN said.
On Tuesday Iran warned that Israel will face “another shockwave” if its “atrocities” do not stop in Gaza, while the Israeli military said it’s getting ready for the “next stages of war” which may not include the expected “ground offensive”.
“Everybody’s talking about the ground offensive. It might be something different,” Lt Colonel Richard Hecht said.
