An Israeli airstrike on a hospital courtyard in the Gaza Strip killed at least four people and sent flames sweeping through a crowded tent camp for people displaced by the war, leaving dozens seriously burned, according to Palestinian doctors.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in the central city of Deir el-Balah was already struggling to treat large numbers of those injured in an earlier strike on a nearby school-turned-shelter that killed at least 20 people when the air attack initially took place. On Monday, blows and fires destroyed many tents.
Hospital records show four people were killed and more than 70 injured. Twenty-five people were transferred to the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza after suffering serious burns, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The death toll is expected to rise as rescue teams rush to rescue survivors.
The Israeli army said it targeted fighters hiding among civilians, but did not provide proof of their presence. In recent months, it has repeatedly struck crowded shelters and tent camps, alleging that Hamas was using them as a staging ground for its attacks.
Israel continues to carry out daily strikes across Gaza as part of its genocide against the Palestinians, which is entering its second year. His forces are leading a major ground offensive in the north.
Israel has ordered the entire remaining population of the northern third of Gaza, estimated at around 400,000 people, to evacuate to the south and has not allowed any food into the north since the start of the month. Hundreds of thousands of people from the north obeyed Israeli evacuation orders at the start of the war and were not allowed to return.
