ISRAELI air strikes on a hospital compound in the Gaza Strip killed at least 500 people, officials in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory said on Tuesday, sparking widespread condemnation and fury.
But Israel’s army blamed a rocket misfired by militants in Gaza.
Al Jazeera footage from the scene showed medics and civilians recovering bodies with white bags or blankets. Bloodstains and multiple torched cars were visible in the dark hospital courtyard.
The strike came just hours before US President Joe Biden was due in the Middle East, to balance US backing for Israel with stopping its war against Hamas from spiralling into wider regional conflict.
Thousands have been killed on both sides since Hamas’s deadly October 7 strike on Israel, with retaliatory air strikes and a siege of Gaza having a devastating impact on ordinary Palestinians.
In an escalation in tensions, the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said between 800 and 1000 people displaced by 10 days of heavy bombardment were killed in “occupation (Israeli) strikes” at the Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza.
“Hundreds of victims are still under the rubble,” a statement said, calling it a “war crime”, and prompting condemnation from the World Health Organization.
Hospitals and their grounds have been seen as safe havens for Gazans made homeless or displaced by the bombing, as they have been relatively spared from strikes.
In the Jordanian capital Amman, dozens of protesters incensed by the strike in Gaza attempted to storm the Israeli embassy, an AFP correspondent said.
Jordan was among Arab and Muslim states condemning the hospital strike, as did Qatar.
Separately, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees said six people were killed when one of its schools sheltering displaced families was hit, during Israeli air strikes.
