Local hospital officials, Thursday (29/2), said that Israeli attacks on crowds of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City had killed and injured dozens of people.
Dr Jadallah Shafai, head of Shifa Hospital's nursing department, told the Al Jazeera network that around 50 people were killed and 250 injured. He did not mention the exact number of victims.
Al Jazeera played footage showing several bodies and injured people arriving at Shifa.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the report.
Fares Afana, head of ambulance services at Kamal Adwan Hospital, said medics who arrived at the scene found “dozens or hundreds” lying on the ground. He said there were not enough ambulances to collect all the dead and injured and some of them were taken to hospital on donkey carts.
Palestinians mourn the death of their relatives in Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip in front of the Al Aqsa Hospital morgue in Deir al Balah, Thursday, February 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
Dr. Mohammad Salha, acting director of Al-Awda Hospital, said it received 90 injured and three dead, who were transferred to Kamal Adwan. “We expect the death toll to rise,” he said. “There are still many injured in waiting rooms and emergency rooms.”
He said most of Al-Awda Hospital was not functioning, without electricity and the operating room was only on battery power with only a few hours left. Gaza's health sector is in dire condition nearly five months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war. (ii/ab)