Hundreds of Palestinians sheltering and being treated in the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza were killed in a blast on Tuesday, according to reports from Palestinian health authorities, who say Israel is responsible for the attack. Initial reports indicate that the strike on the hospital killed at least 300 people, with some reporting the death toll is nearing 500 casualties. Israeli authorities have suggested that the blast may have actually been the result of a failed rocket launch by Hamas militants.
“Israeli warplanes bombed Al-Ahli Arab hospital, a Baptist hospital, in the center of Gaza City, resulting in the martyrdom of 500 Palestinians, including children and women,” Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on X (formerly Twitter.)
Earlier in the day an Israeli airstrike struck a United Nations school killing at least six individuals, according to the UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian humanitarian relief operation.
“We are horrified by the recent Israeli bombing of Ahli Arab Hospital in #Gaza City, which was treating patients and hosting displaced Gazans,” Doctors Without Borders wrote on X. “Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed. This is a massacre. It is absolutely unacceptable.”
“Nothing justifies this shocking attack on a hospital and its many patients and health workers, as well as the people who sought shelter there,” the organization added. “Hospitals are not a target. This bloodshed must stop. Enough is enough.”
Earlier this week, the United Nations warned that the situation in Gaza is quickly approaching that of a “humanitarian catastrophe.” In response to last week’s attack by Hamas against Israel, in which Israel reports that more than 1,200 people were killed, the majority of them civilians, Israel has declared a “complete siege” against Gaza. The Palestinian territory, which houses more than 2 million people and is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, has been cut off from access to water, electricity, and fuel by Israel. According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 3,000 Palestinians have been killed in the retaliatory bombing campaign against Gaza, including hundreds of children. The death toll is expected to rise in the aftermath of the attack on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
Alongside patients being treated at Al-Ahli, hundreds of civilians had taken refuge in the hospital following an order from the Israeli government for more than 1 million Palestinians to evacuate from northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive by Israeli forces.
“What’s happened is terrible because those people, all of them, are civilians. They fled their homes and reached a place that they believed was safe — a hospital, which according to international law, is a safe place,” Ziad Shehadah, a doctor and Gaza resident, told Al Jazeera of the attack on the hospital. “The death toll right now is more than 500, but we believe that number will reach more than 1,000. It is a massacre.”
Nebal Farsakh, a representative from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, told Al Jazeera that “those who were in front of the hospital were forced to leave their homes under the evacuation order. They can’t even afford to evacuate to the south. There’s complete destruction of the infrastructure and transportation.”
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that their analysis and intelligence had determined that the “Islamic Jihad terrorist organization is responsible for the failed rocket launch that hit the hospital.” The IDF did not make public what specific analysis they had conducted. Additionally, several videos claiming to show a Hamas rocket failing to launch and striking Gazan territory were circulated widely on social media before being disproved as years-old footage or footage from unrelated conflicts.