Health authorities in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas," reported that hundreds of people have died in an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday. The United Nations also stated that an Israeli airstrike hit one of its schools being used as a shelter. The head of the Civil Defense operated by Hamas in Gaza told Al Jazeera that more than 300 people were killed in the Israeli air raid on the Baptist Hospital in the sector that evening. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza stated earlier that at least 500 people were killed or injured in the airstrike. The Israeli army said it had no details regarding the attack.
Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reported that an Israeli airstrike killed at least six after hitting one of its schools being used as a refuge for displaced persons. Health authorities in Gaza claim that at least 3,000 have been killed in the ongoing intensive Israeli bombardments for the past 11 days following the invasion of Israeli towns by Hamas militants on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,300 Israeli soldiers and civilians.
Hamas stated that most of the casualties from the hospital strike were among the displaced. A senior official in the Palestinian Authority described the incident as a massacre.
The Israeli army denied responsibility for the attack on the hospital on Tuesday, claiming that military intelligence indicated that the hospital was hit by a failed rocket attack launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the sector. An Israeli army spokesperson stated, "Analysis from Israeli military operational systems indicates that the terrorists in Gaza launched a barrage of rockets that passed near the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit." They added, "Intelligence information we obtained from multiple sources indicates that the Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket that struck the hospital in Gaza."
