What is Known About the Attack on the Gaza Hospital

At least 500 people have died as a result of an Israeli assault on the Al-Ahli hospital in the Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera, citing the health ministry. The radical Hamas movement labeled the attack on the medical facility a war crime and stated that there are "hundreds of patients and wounded individuals, as well as people forcibly displaced from their homes" there.

A spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent, Nabal Farsah, told Al Jazeera that many of those present in the hospital had sought refuge there following Israel's call for evacuation of the Gaza Strip. "These are Palestinians who were looking for shelter. They thought they would be in a safer place," she said.

The spokesperson for Palestine’s civil defense, Mahmoud Basal, described the strike on the hospital as "the deadliest airstrike by Israel in the five wars since 2008." A Hamas movement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity amid reports of the hospital's shelling, told NBC that the radical organization is ready to release Israeli hostages within an hour if the Israel Defense Forces halt their attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, in a video message, blamed both Israel and the US for the assault on Al-Ahli. "The responsibility for this massacre lies with the enemy that attacked the hospital, mosque, and church in the same location, as well as with the Americans who, by providing unlimited cover for this enemy, allow it to carry out these massacres," he said.