UN renews cease-fire call after deadly Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The UN on Monday renewed its call for a cease-fire in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike hit tents housing displaced Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing four Palestinians and injuring 40 others.

"An airstrike in Gaza hit a hospital courtyard on Monday, burning tents where people were sleeping," the UN said in a post on X, without mentioning that it was an Israeli airstrike.

It added that strikes also hit an UNRWA school where families were sheltering.

"The location was meant to be used as a polio vaccination site. A ceasefire is urgently needed to stop the devastation," said the UN.

Four people were killed and 40 other injured when Israeli warplanes hit a hospital courtyard in the central city of Deir al-Balah, burning 30 tents where people were sleeping.

It followed the death of 22 people, including 15 children, in another airstrike on a UNRWA school sheltering displaced civilians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Israeli warplanes bombed the tents of displaced civilians in the hospital compound before on Jan. 10, March 13, July 22, Aug. 4, and Sept. 27.

Images of people trapped in the flames have flooded social media.

Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which killed nearly 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures.

More than 42,200 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 98,400 injured, according to Gaza health authorities.