Several killed, injured in Israeli strike near northern Gaza hospital

Several Palestinians were killed and injured in an Israeli airstrike near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday, according to witnesses.

Israeli fighter jets struck a house and a mosque in the vicinity of the hospital, witnesses said.

“Medics are unable to move to transfer the injured to hospitals as Israeli forces open fire on anyone moving in the area,” an eyewitness told Anadolu.

The Health Ministry has yet to confirm the fatalities.

Early on Monday, the Israeli army announced that its forces stormed the hospital, which houses thousands of ill and wounded patients, as well as displaced people.

According to Israeli public broadcaster KAN, around 80 Palestinians were detained from the facility.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 31,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in the enclave, and nearly 73,800 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water, and medicine, while 60%of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the ICJ. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.