NEWS

Israeli tank strikes on Gaza hospital kill 4, scores injured – medics

Updated: March 19, 2017 at 11:53 am EST  See Comments

The father (C) of Palestinian man Zakareya al-Ashqar, who medics said was killed during heavy Israeli shelling, reacts outside a hospital morgue in Gaza City July 21, 2014. (Reuters / Mohammed Salem)

Ashraf Al-Qidra said that the third floor housed an intensive care unit and operating theaters. Other shells had fallen around the hospital, he added, with officials calling on the Red Cross to help evacuate patients.

A doctor at the hospital, Fayez Zidane, told the station that shells hit the third and fourth floor as well as the reception area.

“There is still shelling against the hospital,” he said speaking to AP. He said he found bits of a rocket, presumably from one of the projectiles.

Zidane appealed to the Red Cross and a nearby hospital to send help.

There have been conflicting reports about the number of people injured following the attack. Reuters has put the figure at 16, while AP says 60 have been wounded, including 30 medics.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment. In the past it has accused Hamas Islamist militants of firing rockets from the grounds of Gaza hospitals and of seeking refuge in the buildings.

Hamas fires rockets from Wafa Hospital in the Gaza neighborhood of Shuja’iya. pic.twitter.com/hITmEgdxRl

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 21, 2014