Israeli tank shells struck a hospital in central Gaza on Monday, a health official and a doctor at the facility said. The health official said the shells killed at least four people and wounded 60, including 30 medical staff, AP reported.
| Of course. Hamas is using the hospital as a shelter for its leaders, as a command and control center, and as a weapons depot. That makes the hospital a legitimate target. |
Health official Ashraf al-Kidra said 12 shells hit the Al Aqsa hospital in the town of Deir el-Balah. He said the shells landed in the administration building, the intensive care unit and the surgery department.
Live footage on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV station showed wounded being moved on gurneys into the emergency department. A doctor at the hospital, Fayez Zidane, told the station that shells hit the third and fourth floor as well as the reception area.
"There is still shelling against the hospital," he said. He said he found bits of a rocket, presumably from one of the projectiles.
Zidane appealed to the Red Thingy Cross and a nearby hospital to send help.
| From yesterday's Times of Israel Gaza warblog, the second item at 20:50: |
IDF says antitank missiles stored next to shelled hospital
The IDF says in a statement that initial investigations of reports of tank shells hitting a Gazoo hospital found "that a cache of antitank missiles was stored in the immediate vicinity of the al-Aqsa Hospital."
"This cache was successfully targeted by IDF forces," the spokesperson says in a statement. "Civilian casualties are a tragic inevitability of the brutal and systematic exploitation of homes, hospitals and mosques in Gazoo. While the IDF takes every possible measure to minimize civilian casualties, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and its deliberate tactic of embedding terrorist activities within the urban environment is ultimately responsible." |