World

Over 500 killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza hospital, school

Published: 12:12, 18 October 2023

Over 500 people are feared to have been killed in Israeli air strikes on a hospital and a school which were housing and sheltering civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Reports from Al Jazeera and the BBC, citing the Palestinian health ministry, indicate that the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza Strip bore the brunt of the devastation, with approximately 500 lives lost in this single strike. According to the Palestinian Civil Defence, this marks the deadliest Israeli air strike in the past five wars, dating back to 2008.
Heart-wrenching images from the Al Ahli Arab Hospital depict a chaotic and devastating scene, with injured individuals, covered in blood, being hurriedly evacuated on stretchers amid the darkness. The streets surrounding the hospital lay strewn with wreckage, and lifeless bodies and damaged vehicles only add to the grim aftermath.
It has been reported that hundreds of displaced individuals had sought shelter in a hall located within the hospital's grounds. As confirmed by civil defense officials, the explosion resulted from an Israeli air strike, leaving numerous people trapped beneath the rubble. The Israeli military has stated its intention to investigate the incident.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry, expressed the gravity of the situation, saying, "The massacre at al-Ahli Arab Hospital is unprecedented in our history. While we've witnessed tragedies in past wars and days, what took place tonight is tantamount to a genocide."
Meanwhile, Gaza's Hamas government has condemned the attack as a "war crime." The hospital was providing refuge to hundreds of sick and injured individuals, as well as those who had been forcibly displaced from their homes due to earlier Israeli strikes.
The tragedy doesn't end there; the school, where over 4,000 people had sought shelter, has also become a scene of devastation. Casualty numbers are anticipated to rise in the coming days.
Since the onset of the war on October 7, approximately 3,000 people have lost their lives in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip. Tragically, the conflict has also taken the lives of more than 1,400 people in Israel.