Israeli strike hits Gaza hospital tent camp, killing 2 and wounding 15
- Israel says it bombed a terrorist command centre and that the hospital itself was not damaged
- Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals since the start of the war
An Israeli air strike hit a tent camp in the courtyard of a crowded hospital in central Gaza on Sunday, killing two Palestinians and wounding another 15, including journalists working nearby.
An Associated Press reporter filmed the strike and aftermath at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where thousands of people have sheltered after fleeing their homes elsewhere in the war-ravaged territory. People including women and children scattered and cried out.
The Israeli military said it struck a command centre of the Islamic Jihad militant group and claimed the hospital’s functioning was not affected.
Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals since the start of the war nearly six months ago, viewing them as relatively safe from air strikes. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of operating in and around medical facilities, and troops have raided a number of hospitals.
Israeli troops have been raiding Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, for nearly two weeks and say they have fought battles with militants in and around the compound.
The military says it has killed scores of fighters, including senior Hamas operatives. It said on Sunday it had found numerous weapons hidden there.
Only a third of Gaza’s hospitals are even partially functioning, while Israeli strikes kill and wound scores of people every day. Doctors say they are often forced to operate without anaesthetic and other crucial supplies.
Those wounded in Sunday’s strike lay on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital floor and gasped while being treated, one clutching at the underside of a stretcher that held someone else.
An international team of doctors who recently visited the hospital said they were horrified by the war’s gruesome impact on Palestinian children. The World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving care.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border on October 7 and rampaged across southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Over 100 captives were freed last year in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Israel responded to the assault with one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history. Around 80 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes.
More than half of the population is now sheltering in the southern city of Rafah, where Israel plans a ground offensive despite warnings of catastrophe from allies and humanitarian groups.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that at least 32,782 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, including 77 whose bodies were brought to hospitals over the last 24 hours.
The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but it has said that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.
Israel says over one-third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.
Gaza health officials have repeatedly denied Israeli claims that militants operate in hospitals.
