CORRECTS Unlawful attacks committed deliberately or recklessly are war crimes: Human Rights Watch on Gaza hospital attack

CORRECTION FROM SOURCE; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE, OTHER CHANGES

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - On Tuesday’s bombing of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, a Human Rights Watch official said Wednesday that "unlawful attacks committed deliberately or recklessly are war crimes."

"Under international humanitarian law, all warring parties have an obligation to take constant care to spare the civilian population and objects, and minimize loss of civilian life and property," Ahmed Benchemsi, the group’s Middle East and North Africa communications director, told Anadolu.

Stressing that hospitals in particular have special protections beyond those afforded to other protected civilian spaces, he added: "Unlawful attacks committed deliberately or recklessly are war crimes."

More than 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, a Health Ministry spokesman told Anadolu. Israel, however, has denied responsibility for the air raid.

Footage on social media showed corpses scattered across the hospital grounds.

Thousands of Palestinians were at the hospital when the building came under bombardment, according to an Anadolu reporter.

A growing chorus of non-governmental groups and world leaders is saying the Israeli bombing campaign on Gaza – including healthcare facilities, residences, and houses of worship – violates international law and may constitute war crimes.