China strongly condemns Gaza hospital attack

BEIJING: Shocked at the attack on a hospital in the Gaza Strip which caused heavy casualties, China strongly condemns the attack, mourns for the victims and expresses sympathy for the injured, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

China calls for an immediate ceasefire as well as maximum efforts to protect civilians and avoid a humanitarian disaster, added the spokesperson.

According to reports, the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza Strip was attacked on the evening of October 17. The incident killed at least 500 people.

Israel’s strike on Gaza hospital

For tens of thousands of families in Gaza, hospitals became a refuge from seemingly endless Israeli shelling. Then came the strike Tuesday night on Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza, which the health ministry said killed at least 500 people.

Residents who have been told to flee the north of the Palestinian territory had packed the courtyards and corridors of the territory’s overwhelmed hospitals in the belief they were a safe haven from the Israeli bombardments.

The Hamas government in Gaza termed the attack a “war crime”. Meanwhile, the health ministry said that “the hospital was housing hundreds of sick and wounded, and people forcibly displaced from their homes” because of other Israeli attacks.

Over 3,500 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since the war erupted on October 7. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed.