Israel admits airstrike on ambulance near hospital that witnesses say killed and wounded dozens

Israel has claimed responsibility for an attack on an ambulance outside Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, the enclave's largest medical facility, which witnesses say killed and injured others.

According to the Hamas-run health authorities, at least 15 individuals were killed and 50 more were injured. At least a dozen bloodied casualties were scattered over the ground near an ambulance, according to footage from the site. At least one of the cars on the scene looks to have shrapnel damage.

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Israel claimed they struck the ambulance because it was being used by Hamas. "An IDF aircraft struck an ambulance that was identified by forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone," the statement said.

"A number of Hamas terrorists were killed in the strike... According to the statement, "we have information demonstrating that Hamas' method of operation is to transport terror operatives and weapons in ambulances."

Following the ambulance strike, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his appeals for a cease-fire in Gaza, which Israel has ignored.

"I am horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an ambulance convoy outside Al Shifa hospital," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.

"The images of bodies strewn on the street outside the hospital are harrowing," he stated, adding, "I will not forget Hamas' terror attacks in Israel, as well as the killing, maiming, and abductions, including of women and children." All hostages held in Gaza must be immediately and unconditionally liberated."

"Now, for nearly one month, civilians in Gaza, including children and women, have been besieged, denied aid, killed, and bombed out of their homes," he told reporters. "This must stop."

The attack was carried out by Israel, according to a representative for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza who was present at Al-Shifa Hospital.

According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), one of its ambulances was in the convoy, however none of its team members were hurt during the strike.

According to the PCRS, the ambulance was damaged when a shell dropped near it. "Upon arrival at Al-Shifa hospital's gate, the gate was targeted again," PRCS stated, adding that a second Ministry of Health ambulance was then directly hit, killing and injuring hundreds of people.

Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra said authorities planned a medical convoy from the hospital and informed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of the move.

He said the caravan was heading to the Rafah Crossing, which is located in the south of the beleaguered enclave and is viewed as the last option for Gazans to flee as Israel attacks the strip.

"When the ambulances moved towards the south, the occupation [Israel] targeted the ambulances in multiple locations, including on the gate of Al-Shifa medical compound," he added. "The Israeli occupation targeted intentionally those ambulances."

The ICRC verified to CNN that it had received a request to accompany the convoy before it left. However, while it was aware of a convoy of trucks conveying wounded patients from northern Gaza to the south of the enclave on Friday, it was not a part of it, it stated later.

"Even if we were not present, this is still medical convoy, and any violence towards medical personnel is unacceptable," a statement from the ICRC read. "No doctors, nurses, or any medical professionals should ever die while working to save lives."

Al-Shifa Hospital has increasingly found itself on the frontlines, with Israel claiming last week that the building houses a substantial Hamas command and control center.

The Israeli army's assertion has been denied by Palestinians. Dr. Medhat Abbas, Director General of the Gaza Health Ministry, told CNN last week that Gaza's hospitals "are used to treat patients only" and are not used "to hide anyone."

The assertion was also denied by Hamas, which called on "the United Nations, Arab and Islamic countries to intervene immediately to stop the madness of bombing and destroying the medical system."

It is situated in one of the world's most densely inhabited places, the 140-square-mile Gaza Strip, which is being bombarded and ringed by Israeli forces.

Calls for a cease-fire by Hamas, relief organizations, and much of the international community have been unequivocally rejected by Israel's leadership, which has pledged to eradicate Hamas following its terror attack last month, which slaughtered more than 1,400 Israelis, the majority of them were civilians.

In Gaza, civilian casualties have continued to escalate as Israel conducts military target strikes on big residential neighborhoods, schools, and some areas immediately surrounding hospitals. According to the most recent estimates from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, which drew on sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave, more than 9,100 individuals have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since October 7.

The bombing has overloaded Gaza's medical institutions, which are now battling to stay operational due to decreasing supplies and fuel.

Guterres drew attention to the severe humanitarian situation in Gaza in his statement on the ambulance strike.

"The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is atrocious." Food, water, and medicine are not arriving in sufficient quantities to meet people's requirements. "The fuel used to power hospitals and water treatment plants is running out," he warned.

Medical personnel at Al-Shifa are fatigued, and inadequate fuel supplies have rendered wards dark, cutting off basic activities such as oxygen generation. Only one operating theater, the emergency department, and the intensive care unit (ICU) remain operational, according to Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, director of Gaza's hospitals, in a video acquired by CNN.

Doctors at Al-Shifa are seeing children with the majority of their bodies and faces charred, missing limbs, and other "catastrophic injuries," according to Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan of the medical organization Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières.

Doctors must also treat patients with poor pain management since they are "running out of anesthetic drugs," she told CNN. "We do not have enough antibiotics to treat wound infections, we don't have enough dressings."