According to the Red Crescent, a hit on a Gaza ambulance outside the Al-Shifa hospital claimed 15 lives

 According to the Red Crescent, a hit on a Gaza ambulance outside the Al-Shifa hospital claimed 15 lives

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, an Israeli attack on an ambulance outside the largest hospital in Gaza City claimed the lives of at least fifteen Palestinians. Graphic footage of individuals who seem to be dead or seriously wounded laying outside the Al-Shifa hospital have been authenticated by BBC Verify.

The Israeli military has acknowledged that it hit an ambulance that it claims contained Hamas agents. The location of the airstrike was not specified. "An IDF aircraft struck an emergency vehicle that was identified by forces as being operated by a Hamas terrorist cell in very close proximity to what was happening in the battle zone," added the statement.

It claimed that many Hamas fighters had been slain and charged Hamas with using ambulances to transport weapons and militants, but it has not yet shown any proof of this. "We want to be clear that this is a combat zone. For their own protection, local residents are often asked to relocate south," the statement said. 13 persons were killed in an explosion outside Al-Shifa, according to the health ministry, which is governed by Hamas.

Three films, one of which is quite explicit, were examined by BBC Verify, which determined that they were taken outside the hospital and posted on Friday afternoon. One video showed people—some of whom were still and others who were seriously injured—lying in bloody patches beside speeding cars. From the video we have seen so far, there isn't a single crater and no evidence of shrapnel or debris. An ambulance's front has been damaged, and several of the vehicles' windows have been broken.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported in a statement on X (previously Twitter) that the convoy was hit twice on its route to the Al-Shifa hospital, first 0.62 kilometers away and again outside the hospital gate, where it claimed to have arrived to offload patients. Israeli soldiers attacked "a convoy of ambulances which had been carrying the casualties" from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City to Rafah in the south, according to a statement from the Hamas leadership. According to Egypt's health ministry, due to the "events" in Al-Shifa, only 17 wounded Palestinians—rather than the 28 initially scheduled—were evacuated for treatment at Egyptian hospitals on Friday.

The explosion at Al-Shifa "utterly shocked" the director of the World Health Organization. "We must always ensure the safety of patients, medical personnel, buildings, and ambulances. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X, "Always. Palestinian director Bisan Owda was in the area when the assault took place. "Some people lost their legs, lost their hands, individuals are trying to carry injuries," she said to the BBC. "People were crying, trying to find each other." Thousands more civilians are taking refuge in Al-Shifa from Israeli airstrikes, on top of the hospital's patient population.

Many, according to Ms. Owda, were sleeping on the surrounding streets because they couldn't find a place within the hospital.The hospital is allegedly home to a significant Hamas headquarters, according to the Israeli military. Gaza health authorities said that an Israeli attack on a school where hundreds of civilians were seeking cover on Friday resulted in several fatalities and injuries. Israel hasn't said anything yet.

After Hamas murdered over 1,400 Israelis and abducted over 240 more, Israel started attacking Gaza. In addition, it started a ground offensive, and on Thursday it said that Gaza City was surrounded by Israeli soldiers. Thousands of residents have fled Gaza City and its surrounding regions after receiving warnings from Israel to relocate to the southern part of the Gaza Strip. But thousands of people are still in northern Gaza.

Some Palestinians have returned to their homes in northern Gaza as a result of ongoing Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip, where Israel had instructed Gazans to flee, and the overcrowding there. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, over 9,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip since October 7.