Al Jazeera :
An Israeli air attack on tents for displaced Palestinians inside a hospital complex in Gaza has killed at least four people and wounded at least 70, many of them critically, as Israel’s genocide in the besieged enclave continues for a second year.
The attack at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah city in the early hours of Monday hit tents where many displaced Palestinians had been sheltering.
“What happened was that we woke up to smoke, flames, fire and burning pieces falling on the tents from every direction. The explosions terrified us in our tents and outside where we live behind Al-Aqsa Hospital,” Om Ahmad Radi, a survivor at the scene, told Al Jazeera.
“The fire trucks couldn’t get here. There were so many burned and charred bodies all over the place. The amount of fire and explosions was enormous. We witnessed one of the most horrible and brutal nights.”
A rescuer works at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 14, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
A rescuer works at the site of an Israeli attack on tents sheltering displaced people at a hospital in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza [Ramadan Abed/Reuters]
Volunteer surgeon Mohammad Tahir said they were dealing with victims who had burns on 60 to 80 percent of their bodies – many of whom won’t survive.
“Patients with significant high percentage burns – unfortunately, their fate is sealed. They won’t even make it to the ICU. They will die,” he told Al Jazeera from outside Al-Aqsa Hospital. “It’s a horror show here. Honestly, sometimes I feel like this is not real life, that this can go on, and this degree of suffering is allowed to happen in this world.” Gaza’s Media Office said it was the seventh time this year that Israel has hit the grounds of Al-Aqsa Hospital and the third in the past couple of weeks, killing Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said “some 20 to 30 tents were completely destroyed and completely burned down.
“There were many people inside the tents as the fire spread, who could not be saved,” he said. “We are looking at a large number [of deaths] as these tents are close to each other, back-to-back and set up in a small space inside the hospital courtyard.”
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee confirmed the Israeli air force conducted the attack, claiming, without evidence, that the hospital complex was used as a “command and control centre” by Palestinian group Hamas to carry out attacks against Israel.
Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked medical facilities in Gaza since the assault began more than a year ago, with the enclave’s health sector already overwhelmed and infrastructure destroyed. Last week, a United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) released a report which found Israel perpetrating “a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system”.