The health ministry of the Hamas-controlled enclave reported that an Israeli airstrike on an ambulance used to transport injured persons from besieged northern Gaza on Friday resulted in 15 fatalities and 60 injuries.
The Israeli army claimed to have located and destroyed an ambulance that was “being used by a Hamas terrorist cell.” It claimed that the strike had killed Hamas fighters and charged the organisation of using ambulances to transport weapons and terrorists.
Claims that Hamas fighters were present, according to official Izzat El Reshiq, were “baseless.” According to Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for Gaza’s health ministry, Israel struck a convoy that included the ambulance and was located close to the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
According to Qidra, Israel had attacked the ambulance convoy from several points, including the gate of al-Shifa Hospital and Ansar Square, which was a kilometre distant.
Israel’s military issued a statement after the incident in which it stated that it planned to provide more information, but it did not provide any evidence to back up its claim that the ambulance was associated with Hamas.
We want to make it clear that this is a combat zone. For their own protection, civilians in the region are frequently asked to flee south,” the military stated.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm the claims made by either party.
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individuals were seen running to help in a video posted on social media, which Reuters has confirmed shows individuals lying in blood close to an ambulance on a downtown street with flashing lights.
In a different video, there were three ambulances arranged in a queue, and next to them were roughly a dozen people who were either hardly moving or not moving at all. Blood puddled next to it.
The director-general of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated on social media that he was “utterly shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances evacuating patients,” stressing the need to safeguard patients, medical personnel, and facilities.
Earlier on Friday, Qidra said that ambulances would transport severely injured Palestinians from besieged Gaza City to the southern part of the territory, Egypt, for treatment.
Israel ordered all residents to evacuate the northern part of Gaza last month, and its forces surrounded the area on Thursday. Israel has accused Hamas of hiding command centres and tunnel entrances at al-Shifa Hospital.
Israel’s military has bombarded the southern part of Gaza territory even after ordering inhabitants to evacuate the northern sections of the territory.
Authorities from Hamas and al-Shifa Hospital have refuted claims that militant fighters use the building as a base.
Reports
