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GAZA STRIP: Hundreds of Palestinians were killed<\/a> on Tuesday when Israel carried out air strikes on a hospital and a refugee camp in Gaza, where people had sought shelter to escape the relentless bombing on residential areas, according to the health ministry.<\/p>\n The strikes came as world leaders intensified efforts to find a solution to the crisis, which has already resulted in the killing of over 3,000 Palestinians in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip since Oct 7<\/a>.<\/p>\n A health ministry official in Gaza said at least 500 were killed in the Israeli air strikes on the yard\u201c of the Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza. \u201cHundreds of victims are still under the rubble,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n The media office of Gaza\u2019s government desc\u00adribed it as a \u201cwar crime\u201d.<\/p>\n Three days of mourning in Palestine; Biden to visit Israel today; aid yet to arrive in Gaza as Rafah crossing remains shut<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cThe hospital was housing hundreds of sick and wounded, and people forcibly displaced from their homes\u201d because of other strikes, a statement said.<\/p>\n Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a televised press briefing: \u201cWe will look into it\u2026 the strike happened just a short while ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has declared three days of mourning after the \u201chospital massacre\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n Earlier in the day, an Israeli strike killed at least six people<\/a> sheltering in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp inside a school, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said.<\/p>\n UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini called the bombing at Al-Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza, \u201coutrageous\u201d and warned the death toll would likely rise.<\/p>\n \u201cIt again shows a flagrant disregard for the lives of civilians. No place is safe in Gaza anymore, not even UNRWA facilities,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Gaza\u2019s interior ministry said at least 49 Palestin\u00adians were also killed in an overnight Israeli strike that hit homes in Khan Yunis and Rafah.<\/p>\n Condemnations<\/strong><\/p>\n Canada, Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran and WHO have denounced the air strikes on the Ahli Arab hospital, and called upon the international community for intervention to stop such violations.<\/p>\n Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said<\/a> the deadly Israeli strike was \u201cthe latest example devoid of the most basic human values\u201d.<\/p>\n Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the Israeli strike on the hospital \u201chorrific and absolutely unacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n Trudeau told reporters that \u201cit\u2019s not acceptable to hit a hospital\u201d.<\/p>\n Egypt\u2019s foreign ministry also released a statement condemning the strike.<\/p>\n Hospitals in Gaza were already at a \u201cbreaking point\u201d as tens of thousands of families have flocked there for refuge.<\/p>\n The WHO said 111 medical buildings have been hit by Israel, with 12 medical workers dead and 60 ambulances targeted.<\/p>\n The UN health agency stated: \u201cWHO strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital. The hospital was one of 20 in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military.<\/p>\n \u201cThe order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced.\u201d<\/p>\n Diplomatic efforts<\/strong><\/p>\n The atrocities by Israeli forces continued on the eve of US President Joe Biden\u2019s visit to the Middle East.<\/p>\n The US President\u2019s visit to Israel on Wednesday will be a show of \u201cironclad\u201d sup\u00ad\u00adport as Washington tries to prevent the escalating war against Hamas in Gaza from spilling into a wider Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been shuttling between Middle Eastern countries, announced Biden\u2019s planned visit at the end of hours of talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he said the Israeli leader had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians. He gave no details.<\/p>\n British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is also set to visit Israel this week, Sky News reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah on Tuesday held a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.<\/p>\n He warned against trying to push Palestinian refugees into Egypt or Jordan, adding that the humanitarian situation must be dealt with inside Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a red line, because I think that is the plan by certain of the usual suspects to try and create de facto issues on the ground. No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt,\u201d King Abdullah said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Egypt will host a summit of state leaders to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.<\/p>\n Relief efforts<\/strong><\/p>\n Relief goods have yet to make their way into Gaza as the only crossing into the enclave not controlled by Israel, was still closed in absence of an agreement to deliver the aid.<\/p>\n Egypt has said the Rafah crossing, a key route for desperately needed supplies, has not been officially closed but has become inoperable due to the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side.<\/p>\n The World Health Organisation has said it needed urgent access to Gaza to deliver aid and medical supplies.<\/p>\n Early on Tuesday some 160 trucks left Al-Arish in Egypt\u2019s Sinai peninsula, where loads of aid have been awaiting an agreement on aid delivery, a witness told Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n The UN\u2019s World Food Programme said the food situation in the besieged and blockaded<\/a> Gaza Strip was worsening, with only four or five days of stocks left in the shops.<\/p>\n WFP said stocks were getting low in warehouses inside the Palestinian enclave, but at the shop level, the situation was even more acute.<\/p>\n \u201cThe situation in Gaza is getting worse by the minute: the humanitarian situation but also of course the food security situation,\u201d WFP\u2019s Middle East spokeswoman told reporters.<\/p>\n Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n