At least 60 people have been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza on Wednesday morning, according to local medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.
The strikes hit the European Hospital complex near Khan Younis, leaving large craters in the ground and cracks in the courtyard, as shown in images from AFP news agency. A damaged bus was lodged in a hole in the road.
“Everyone inside the hospital – patients and wounded alike – was running in fear, some on crutches, others screaming for their children, while others were being dragged on beds,” local photojournalist Amro Tabash told AFP.
Israeli media reported that the target of the strikes was Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, brother of the group’s previous leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in an Israeli operation in October 2024.
Israel’s military claimed to have hit what it called a “Hamas command centre” beneath the hospital.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian buildings as operational bases, which Hamas has denied.
An Israeli government spokesperson said Israel will increase military pressure on Hamas “exponentially” to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza.
Al Jazeera later updated the casualty figures, citing local medical sources, to “at least 65 people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the early hours of this morning”. Al Jazeera has been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
The war began with Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw over 250 taken hostage. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, Israel’s military campaign has killed 52,908 people in Gaza.
Most of Gaza’s 2.1 million population has been displaced, many multiple times. An estimated 70% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, with healthcare, water and sanitation systems collapsing amid shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
(with information from The Guardian)
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