UN Secretary-General António Guterres and relief organizations operating in the Palestinian Gaza Strip condemned the Israeli airstrike that hit an ambulance on Friday, which the Israeli army claimed, without evidence, was transporting Hamas militants. The Ministry of Health, the director of a hospital, and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in the Hamas-controlled area reported that the Israeli strike targeted a convoy of ambulances evacuating wounded individuals from northern Gaza, which is under siege.
Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director general of the Shifa Medical Complex, where the ambulance was struck, stated that 15 people were killed in the attack, and 60 others were injured. He added that the majority of the dead and injured were standing at the hospital gate and were not inside the ambulances.
Late Friday night, the Israeli army announced it would provide more evidence that Hamas was using the targeted ambulance to transport fighters and that the group uses ambulances to transfer militants and weapons “as a method of operations,” which Hamas has denied.
Guterres commented in a social media post on Saturday, "I am horrified by reports of the attack on a convoy of ambulances in Gaza." The World Health Organization condemned the attack, while Doctors Without Borders described it as "atrocious... a new low in an endless tide of unimaginable violence."
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society stated that the convoy of five ambulances was transporting wounded from the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The journey required passing through the northern part of the territory, which is now completely besieged by Israeli forces, to the southern area where Israel has not yet sent its ground troops but is also bombing.
The Israeli attack, aimed at eliminating Hamas, was in response to the group's assault on Israeli towns on October 7, which Israel claims resulted in the deaths of 1,400 people. Health authorities in Gaza, administered by Hamas, state that the Israeli bombardment has resulted in 9,488 deaths thus far.
The Red Crescent stated that the ambulance convoy had to turn back about four kilometers from the hospital because the road was blocked by debris from shelling. The organization added that while returning through Gaza City, and about one kilometer from the hospital, the main ambulance was struck by a missile, causing damage and injuring its crew and a patient inside.
The organization mentioned that one of the five ambulances in the convoy belonged to them and was transporting a 35-year-old woman who had been injured by shrapnel. It added that as the woman was being unloaded from the ambulance at the hospital gate, another missile hit the vehicle, injuring the driver and one of the paramedics.
Reuters verified footage showing several individuals lying in pools of blood near the ambulances. Doctors Without Borders quoted one of its doctors working at Shifa Hospital, referred to as Dr. Obaid, stating, “We were standing inside the hospital gate when the ambulance was hit right in front of us. Afterwards, bodies were scattered, bloodied everywhere.”
In response to questions about the incident, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva said, "We feel saddened when we see medical services in Gaza being put at risk." The spokesperson added that the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has "a strong track record in providing life-saving services. Like all organizations that are part of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, it is committed to the principles of neutrality and impartiality."
