Israeli Air Strikes Hit Gaza Hospitals, School

Israeli air strikes hit three Gaza hospitals and a school on Friday, killing at least 22 people, and a ground battle was under way at another hospital, Palestinian officials have said.

Officials said missiles landed in the courtyard of Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, in the early hours, damaged the Indonesian Hospital and reportedly set fire to the Nasser Rantissi paediatric cancer hospital.

Israeli tanks, which have been advancing through Northern Gaza for almost two weeks, have taken up positions around the Nasser Rantissi, Children’s and Eye hospitals as well as the Al-Quds hospital, medical staff said ealier, raising the alarm.

“Israel is now launching a war on Gaza City hospitals,” Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, Director of Shifa Hospital, which was struck by a missiles early on Friday, told Reuters.

Gaza Health Ministry Spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said Israel had bombed Shifa hospital buildings five times. “One Palestinian was killed and several were wounded in the early morning attack,” he said by phone.

Videos verified by Reuters showed scenes of panic and people covered in blood.

Selmeyah said later that at least 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Al-Buraq school in Gaza City, where people whose homes had been destroyed were sheltering.

The Palestinian Red Cross said Israeli Forces were shooting at Al-Quds hospital, and there were violent clashes, with one person killed and 28 wounded, most of them children.

Israel did not immediately comment on the reports.

REUTERS