Israel-Hamas war: Amid the massive airstrikes by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), Mohamed Zaqout, general manager of all hospitals in Gaza, said the roof of a building at al-Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, was damaged by an Israeli strike, resulting in deaths and injuries.
Speaking on Al-Jazeera, Zaqout said the strike killed displaced people who were sheltering on the top floor. Solar panels that were installed on the roof were destroyed in the attack, he said. Al-Jazeera showed a video of bloodstained wreckage inside the top floor, where the beds of displaced families were still laid out. Other videos showed smoke rising from the building.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official on Monday denied Israeli charges that the militant group has located missiles and rocket launchers near a hospital in the Gaza Strip. Osama Hamdan told reporters in Beirut that Israel is trying to destroy the medical sector in Gaza to force Palestinians out of their land.
Hamdan also denied Israeli military statements that the group has a tunnel near a hospital in Gaza, saying a hole shown in a photo presented by the Israeli military spokesperson is used for storing fuel. Hamdan urged the U.N. to send an international committee to visit hospitals to confirm they are not being used by Hamas for military activities.
Death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000
The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza says the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing war with Israel has jumped over 10,000. The figures, released Monday, mark a grim milestone in what has quickly become the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence since 1948.
The war erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed into Israel from Gaza killed over 1,400 people and took some 240 others hostage in a rampage that Israel described as the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Israel responded with a campaign of blistering airstrikes, followed by a ground invasion.
The Health Ministry said 292 people were killed in Gaza on Sunday, raising the death toll to 10,022, without distinguishing between fighters and civilians. The vast majority of the dead are believed to have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, though Israel says over 500 errant rockets launched by Palestinian militants have landed inside Gaza.
(With inputs from agency)
Also Read: Blinken wraps up 'gruelling' Middle East diplomatic tour in Turkey with 'limited success'
