Social Issues

Deadly Israel strike hits near Gaza's biggest hospital: Hamas

Ibrahim

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4 Nov 2023

View of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City surrounded by darkness as fuel for electricity generation runs out amid ongoing Israeli strikes. / Photo: AFP

Hamas has said an Israeli strike hit a convoy of ambulances, which the Palestinian Health Ministry said killed multiple people near the territory's largest hospital.

A government statement on Friday said Israeli forces targeted "a convoy of ambulances which was transporting the wounded" from Gaza towards Rafah in the south.

"We have informed the Red Cross in accordance with the international law about moving a convoy carrying injured people in ambulance vehicles from Al Shifa hospital," Ashraf al Qudra, the Health Ministry spokesperson, said in the statement.

The statement made no mention of any casualties but local Al Aqsa TV had earlier quoted the ministry as saying scores had been killed and injured.

Journalists at the scene saw multiple bodies beside a damaged ambulance.

Israel's military said it was looking into the report.

Hospitals no longer functioning

Al Shifa hospital is facing severe overcrowding, with a bed occupancy rate of 164 percent according to the World Health Organization.

Some 16 hospitals across Gaza are no longer functioning due to damage from Israeli strikes and a lack of fuel caused by the Israeli blockade, the health ministry said.

The WHO warned on Wednesday that the fuel shortage "immediately risks the lives" of the wounded and other patients.

More than 23,500 people have been wounded across Gaza in four weeks of war, the Health Ministry said, while the death toll has surpassed 9,200.