Attack on Gaza hospital ‘absolutely devastating, cannot be justified’: UK opposition leader

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - British main opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on Tuesday said that the attack on a hospital in Gaza is "absolutely devastating."

"The scenes of hundreds killed at the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist hospital in Gaza are absolutely devastating and cannot be justified," he said on X.

Underscoring that international law "must be upheld," Starmer said that hospitals and civilian lives "must be protected."

More than 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Ahli hospital late Tuesday, Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Anadolu.

It comes on day 11 in the conflict, with a growing international chorus of non-governmental groups and world leaders saying the Israeli bombing campaign on the besieged Gaza Strip -- including health care facilities, homes, and houses of worship -- violates international law and may constitute a war crime.

The Palestinian group, Hamas, called the targeting of the hospital an act of "genocide."