Strike kills hundreds at Gaza hospital on eve of Biden visit

GAZA STRIP, occupied Palestine — Israeli air strikes on a hospital compound in the Gaza Strip killed at least 200 people, officials in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory said on Tuesday, sparking widespread condemnation and fury.

Al Jazeera footage from the scene showed medics and civilians recovering bodies with white bags or blankets. Bloodstains and multiple torched cars were visible in the dark hospital courtyard.

The strike came just hours before US President Joe Biden was due in the Middle East, to balance US backing for Israel with stopping its war against Hamas from spiralling into wider regional conflict.

In an escalation in tensions, the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said between 200 and 300 people displaced by 10 days of heavy bombardment were killed in “occupation [Israeli] strikes” at the Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza.

“Hundreds of victims are still under the rubble,” a statement said, calling it a “war crime”, and prompting condemnation from the World Health Organisation.

Hospitals and their grounds have been seen as safe havens for Gazans made homeless or displaced by the bombing, as they have been relatively spared from strikes.

Separately, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees said six people were killed when one of its schools sheltering displaced families was hit, during Israeli air strikes.

Israel has also imposed a crippling siege on the impoverished territory and deployed tens of thousands of troops on the border with Gaza in preparation for a full-scale ground offensive.

‘Corpses in the street’ 

Biden will also try to quietly steer Israeli’s military response, as international alarm has grown about the devastating impact of the war on Palestinian civilians.

Entire neighbourhoods have been razed and survivors are left with dwindling supplies of food, water and fuel.

The health ministry in Gaza said hospitals were at breaking point, with more than 30,000 people taking shelter at the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City alone.

It said it was “extremely concerned” about disease outbreaks due to poor water supply and sanitation.

“There are corpses in the streets. Buildings are crashing down on their inhabitants,” said Jamil Abdullah, a Palestinian-Swede, hoping to flee the blockaded enclave.

“The smell of the dead is everywhere.”

UNRWA says more than one million Palestinians — almost half of Gaza’s population of 2.4 million — have fled their homes.

An UNRWA flour storage near Gaza City was hit by an Israeli strike, an AFP photographer said. Even as the smoke was still rising from the rubble, desperate residents collected flour from the ground.

“We are dying of hunger,” said Abu Hussni Al Hujein, 60.

Israel has ordered residents of north Gaza to leave for the south, hoping to clear the area of civilians in preparation for a ground assault that would involve gruelling urban combat.