GAZA STRIP: Hundreds of Palestinians were killed on Tuesday when Israel carried out air strikes on a hospital and a refugee camp in Gaza, where people had sought shelter to escape the relentless bombing on residential areas, according to the health ministry.
A health ministry official in Gaza said at least 500 were killed in the Israeli air strikes on the yard“ of the Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza. “Hundreds of victims are still under the rubble,” it added.
“The hospital was housing hundreds of sick and wounded, and people forcibly displaced from their homes” because of other strikes, a statement said.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has declared three days of mourning after the “hospital massacre” in Gaza.
Earlier in the day, an Israeli strike killed at least six people sheltering in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp inside a school, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said.
UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini called the bombing at Al-Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza, “outrageous” and warned the death toll would likely rise.
“It again shows a flagrant disregard for the lives of civilians. No place is safe in Gaza anymore, not even UNRWA facilities,” he added.
Gaza’s interior ministry said at least 49 Palestinians were also killed in an overnight Israeli strike that hit homes in Khan Yunis and Rafah.
