UPDATE:
Israel has denied launching an airstrike that killed hundreds at a Gaza Strip hospital. An Israeli statement blames the massive explosion on a misfired Palestinian rocket, contradicting Gaza health authorities.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
An airstrike on a Gaza City Hospital reportedly killed 500 people, says the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The deadly blast comes hours before President Biden is set to land in Israel in a show of solidarity.
Initial reports indicate that the death toll is expected to rise. In response, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has canceled his meeting with Biden.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The attack on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital—founded in the 1880s by Anglican missionaries and funded largely by the European Union and Episcopal Church, according to a reverend there—occurred as aid workers already warned of a looming humanitarian collapse in Gaza.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said he is looking into what happened at the hospital. The explosion comes during a week of escalating Israeli bombing in Gaza, following Hamas's attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Footage aired by Al Jazeera showed rescue workers, medical staff and civilians responding to the strike on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, stepping over bodies on the ground as they carried out other bodies in blankets and white plastic sheets. Burnt out cars sat in the area, blood pooled among the rubble and dazed patients wandered into the street, footage shows.
“The massacre at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is unprecedented in our history,” said Palestinian Authority Civil Defense Spokesman Mahmoud Basal. “While we've witnessed tragedies in past wars and days, but what took place tonight is tantamount to a genocide.”
Israel had previously called for the evacuation of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, an area home to some 20 hospitals – and more than one million people.
Intergovernmental organizations have criticized the order, saying it would worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Many Palestinians have struggled to flee the besieged enclave. Reports suggest that Hamas is forcibly preventing civilians from leaving.
Following news of the bombing, an Israeli military spokesperson pledged his country would reveal the truth to the public following a governmental review.
In the past 11 days, Israel airstrikes have targeted over 200 sites in Gaza.
This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.
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