Fatalities as Israeli tanks shell Palestinian homes near Gaza hospital

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Several Palestinians were reported killed in Israeli tank shelling near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Thursday, according to witnesses.

The shelling targeted several houses in the proximity of the hospital in Al-Rimal neighborhood in the western part of the city, witnesses said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry has yet to give an exact death toll.

The army said early Thursday that its forces had killed 50 more Palestinians in and around the hospital, bringing the death toll in its raid on the facility to 140 since Monday.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

Nearly 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and nearly 74,200 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war, now in its 167th day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling ordering Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara