Israeli strike hits ambulance convoy at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

An Israeli strike hit an ambulance convoy carrying wounded patients as it was leaving al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Friday.

Many casualties were feared as an Israeli strike hit an ambulance convoy carrying wounded patients as it was leaving al-Shifa Hospital, al-Jazeera quoted Gaza officials as saying.

Israel has confirmed it bombed an ambulance, alleging that Hamas was using the vehicle. Palestinian health officials have said it was carrying patients to the south.

In a separate attack, children among at least 14 Palestinians were killed while escaping south along Gaza’s coastal road, according to officials.

In the news conference outside al-Shifa Hospital, al-Qudra again called the attack “a massacre against more victims, civilians and wounded people”.

“The international community should stop those massacres that are committed against our people and our paramedics and our injured and our victims,” the Health Ministry spokesperson said.

“We call on everyone to help us create a humanitarian corridor to ensure the transportation of victims and patients and to allow humanitarian aid to be funnelled to the Gaza Strip.”

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus renewed his call for a ceasefire in light of the attack.

“We reiterate: patients, health workers, facilities and ambulances must be protected at all times. Always,” he wrote on social media.

Utterly shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances evacuating patients close to Al-Shifa hospital in #Gaza, leading to deaths, injuries and damage.

We reiterate: patients, health workers, facilities, and ambulances must be protected at all times. Always.

Ceasefire NOW.…

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 3, 2023

Hamas’s political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh has issued a statement decrying the latest Israeli attacks on ambulances and medical facilities in the Gaza Strip.

“These massacres are a reflection of the predicament the occupation and its ground forces find themselves in as they are combated by our resistance fighters, who are defending our land and avenging thousands of martyrs,” Haniyeh said.

He said the “resistance will continue to defend our people with all its might”.

Haniyeh also called on neighbouring Egypt to fully open the Rafah border crossing and called on people in the region and the world to “continue expressing their anger” in response to Israel and its allies.

Haniyeh also urged the international community to uphold its “humanitarian, moral and political responsibilities” and implement UN resolutions that call for an end to the “genocide being committed against our people in Gaza”.