500 killed in explosion in Gaza hospital complex: Hamas ministry

Palestinians search for victims in the rubble of a building after a strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023. At least 500 people were also killed in a hospital compound. Picture: Mahmud Hams/AFP

Palestinians search for victims in the rubble of a building after a strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023. At least 500 people were also killed in a hospital compound. Picture: Mahmud Hams/AFP

Published Oct 17, 2023

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Over 500 people have been killed as a result of an explosion on a hospital in the Gaza Strip, Al-Jazeera reported on Tuesday, citing a representative of the Health Ministry of Gaza.

"Hundreds of victims are still under the rubble," it added.

The media office of Gaza's Hamas government described the attack as a "war crime".

"The hospital was housing hundreds of sick and wounded, and people forcibly displaced from their homes" because of other strikes, a statement said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the hospital bombing when contacted by AFP.

Around 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip since the war erupted on October 7.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, the majority gunned down by Hamas militants who crossed from Gaza and attacked border communities.

*This is a developing story.

AFP and Sputnik