Several people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli attack on an ambulance convoy near the al-Shifa Hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The health ministry said “several citizens were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike at the entrance to al-Shifa hospital” in Gaza City on Friday.
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A convoy of ambulances was transporting critically wounded patients from al-Shifa Hospital to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt when it was targeted in an Israeli attack, said Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the health ministry in Gaza.
“We informed the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, we informed the whole world, that those victims were lined up in those ambulances,” he said.
“This was a medical convoy.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent said one of its ambulances was targeted in the attack near al-Shifa. “The staff is safe,” it said.
Palestinian Red Crescent spokesman Mohamed Abu Musbah said the area where the ambulance was hit was “extremely crowded” with civilians.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Utterly shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances evacuating patients close to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, leading to deaths, injuries and damage.
“We reiterate, patients, health workers, facilities, and ambulances must be protected at all times, always,” he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.The Israeli military confirmed that one of its aircraft hit an ambulance, saying Israeli soldiers assessed it was being used by a Hamas unit close to their position in the battle zone.
It said that Hamas uses ambulances to transport fighters and weapons and added that a number of Hamas fighters were killed in the attack.
The largest hospital in Gaza, al-Shifa is facing severe overcrowding, with a bed occupancy rate of 164 percent, according to the WHO, amid Israel’s continuing bombardment and blockade of the territory.
At least 16 hospitals across Gaza are no longer functioning due to damage from bombing and a lack of fuel, the health ministry said.
The WHO warned Wednesday that the fuel shortage “immediately risks the lives” of the wounded and other patients.
More than 9,200 people have been killed and 23,500 others wounded in Gaza since Israel launched a bombardment of the territory on October 7, according to Palestinian authorities.
The Israeli assault on Gaza came after Hamas fighters killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in an attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli officials.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies