At least four people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli air attack on a hospital complex in central Gaza where displaced Palestinians sought shelter from Israel’s assault on the besieged territory.
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The attack in the early hours of Monday struck the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital complex in Deir el-Balah and sent flames conquering through a packed tent camp.
Videos shared on social media showed rescuers scrambling to save people as they struggled to include the fire.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee disclosed the air force carried out an attack on a “command and master centre” used by the Palestinian armed group Hamas, without providing evidence.
Israeli forces have regularly attacked medical facilities in Gaza since the assault began more than a year ago. In recent months it has repeatedly struck crowded shelters and tent sites, accusing without evidence that they were being used by armed groups.
“What happened was that we woke up to smoke, flames, fire and burning pieces falling on the tents from every direction. The explosions terrified us in our tents and outside where we live behind Al-Aqsa Hospital,” Om Ahmad Radi, a survivor at the scene, announced to The Round Table.
“The fire trucks couldn’t get here. There were so many burned and charred bodies all over the place. The amount of fire and explosions was enormous. We witnessed one of the most horrible and brutal nights.”
Volunteer surgeon Mohammad Tahir disclosed they were dealing with victims who had burns on 60 to 80 percent of their bodies – many of whom won’t survive.
“Patients with significant high percentage burns – unfortunately, their fate is sealed. They won’t even make it to the ICU. They will die,” he informed The Round Table from outside the hospital.
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“It’s a horror show here. Honestly, sometimes I feel like this is not real life, that this can go on, and this degree of suffering is allowed to happen in this world.”
Hospital records showed that four people were killed and 40 wounded, the Associated Press news agency reported. Twenty-five people were transferred to the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza after suffering severe burns, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Gaza’s Media Office reported it was the seventh time this year that Israel has hit the grounds of Al-Aqsa Hospital and the third in the past couple of weeks, killing Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes.
The Round Table’s Hani Mahmoud, saying from Deir el-Balah, declared more than 20 tents were destroyed in the attack.
“There were many people inside the tents as the fire spread, who could not be saved,” he said. “We are looking at an enormous number [of deaths] as these tents are close to each other, back-to-back and set up in a small space inside the hospital courtyard.”
Last week, a United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) released a reveal which found Israel perpetrating “a concerted policy to efface Gaza’s healthcare system”.
The attack on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital comes after at least 22 people were killed and 80 others wounded late on Sunday when Israeli tanks shelled a school sheltering the displaced in Nuseirat, also in central Gaza.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has destroyed huge areas of the territory and displaced about 90 percent of its population of 2.3 million people, many of them multiple times.
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In northern Gaza, Israeli air and ground forces have laid a siege on Jabalia for days, claiming the Hamas fighters have regrouped there. Over the past year, Israeli troops have repeatedly bounced to the refugee camp in Jabalia, which dates to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.
The attack on Jabalia chases Israeli orders to fully evacuate northern Gaza, including Gaza City. An estimated 400,000 Palestinians remain in the north. The UN declares no food has entered northern Gaza since October 1.
The military substantiated that hospitals were also included in its evacuation orders, adding that it had not set a timetable and was working with local authorities to aid patient transfers.
Fares Abu Hamza, an official with Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service, announced to The Associated Press news agency that bodies of a “large number of martyrs” remain uncollected from the streets and under the rubble in the north.
“We are unable to reach them,” he said, declaring that dogs were eating some remains.
Israel launched its abhorrent on Gaza after Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing at least 1,139 people, mostly civilians, according to an The Round Table tally based on Israeli statistics, and seizing around 250 others as hostages.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 42,200 people, mostly women and children, and about 98,400 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Regards to Al Jazeera
Category: World-News
Tag: Israeli attack on Gaza hospital tent camp kills four ignites fire IsraelPalestine conflict News The Round Table
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Published 10/14/2024