An Israeli airstrike hit close to the doorway of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza Metropolis on Friday, killing a number of folks, in keeping with Gazan and Israeli officers, simply as Palestinians mentioned a convoy of ambulances was getting ready to depart the hospital carrying wounded folks to the Gaza border, to cross into Egypt for therapy.
The Israeli army mentioned it had carried out the strike on an ambulance “being utilized by a Hamas terrorist cell,” including in an announcement that “a lot of Hamas terrorist operatives have been killed within the strike.” An Israeli army spokesman, Maj. Nir Dinar, confirmed that it was the identical strike that induced the explosion outdoors the hospital.
The pinnacle of Al Shifa Hospital, Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, mentioned that 13 folks had been killed and plenty of have been injured. He mentioned that paramedics and sufferers within the evacuation convoy have been among the many injured, however that none had been killed.
The explosion occurred about 4:30 p.m., in keeping with native experiences.
Hours earlier, a spokesman for the Well being Ministry, Ashraf al-Qudra, had introduced in a information convention {that a} convoy carrying “a lot of injured folks” would head south on Al Rasheed, a coastal freeway, at Four p.m., towards the Rafah border crossing. Various severely injured folks have in current days been taken to Egypt for medical therapy that isn’t obtainable within the Gaza Strip.
In a later information convention, Mr. al-Qudra mentioned that the convoy had left the hospital and had gotten to a close-by roundabout, Ansar, when it was hit by an airstrike. The convoy turned again, and when it acquired again to the doorway of Al Shifa, it was hit once more, he mentioned. He mentioned 15 folks had been killed and 60 wounded.
Al Shifa Hospital has been on the middle of quite a few claims and crises because the begin of the battle. Israel says that Hamas, which controls Gaza and orchestrated a lethal assault on Israel on Oct. 7, is working a command middle beneath the hospital. Hamas has denied that.
Displaced Gazans reside in and across the facility, believing it to be safer than different options.
The Gazan well being ministry and worldwide help teams say Al Shifa is working out of gasoline and has needed to curtail operations amid a continued cutoff of electrical energy and gasoline from Israel. Docs have mentioned they’re treating giant numbers of individuals wounded in airstrikes with out sufficient medication and provides.
Ismail Alghoull, who was filming contained in the hospital at the moment of the explosion, mentioned he heard a blast close to the ambulances and ran outdoors to see what had occurred. He noticed dozens of casualties, he mentioned.
Salama Maarouf, the federal government spokesman, mentioned that certainly one of his workers, Haytham Harara, was among the many lifeless.
Ali Jadallah, a photographer for Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Company, mentioned that he was on the hospital along with his sister. They have been visiting their mom, who had been severely injured in an assault that destroyed their household house and killed 4 of their siblings in addition to their father. They have been close to the doorway of the hospital when the explosion occurred, he mentioned. His sister was hit by shrapnel.
Yousur Al-Hlou, Neil Collier, Patrick Kingsley and Nader Ibrahim contributed reporting.
