Hamas claims scores of Palestinians have been killed and injured after Israeli strike hits ambulance convoy

Hamas has claimed that dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured after an Israeli rocket attack hit an ambulance convoy.

Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV quoted the Gaza Health Ministry as saying that many were killed on Friday as the vehicles carried seriously injured people in Gaza.

Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said earlier that they would send seriously injured Palestinians who urgently needed to be transferred for treatment to Egypt, from Gaza City and the north to the south.

Incredibly graphic images circulating online, reportedly showing the aftermath of the strike near Al-Shifa Hospital, showed a scene of devastation.

Bodies, mostly of men and boys, are seen scattered across a street among damaged ambulances. Desperate civilians are seen dragging away limp bodies, some leaving a trail of blood.

An AFP news agency journalist at the scene said they saw several bodies next to a damaged ambulance. MailOnline geolocated the images to Al-Shifa Hospital.

Photos from the blast site appeared to match the images.

Israel has said it is investigating reports of the attack. The IDF said it “could not answer or confirm any specific questions at this time” when contacted by AFP.

Palestinians pull an ambulance after a convoy of ambulances was hit, at the entrance to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 3

Palestinians check damage to an ambulance after a convoy of ambulances was hit, at the entrance to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 3

Al-Qudra said in a statement: “We have informed the Red Cross in accordance with international law about moving a convoy of injured people in ambulance vehicles from Al-Shifa Hospital.

“At the hospital gate and then on Ansar Square, the occupation targeted the convoy in more than one location outside Al-Shifa Hospital.”

The statement made no mention of any casualties.

Al-Shifa Hospital is located in northern Gaza, which is surrounded by Israeli forces and near a coastal road, one of the two main roads in the area running from north to south.

The Palestinian Red Crescent released separate images of damaged ambulances. It said an airstrike hit the hospital at 4:30 pm local time (2:30 pm GMT).

It said the ambulances had just returned from taking “injured persons to the Rafah border,” where a limited number of people were able to leave Gaza.

Hospital director Muhammad Abu Silmeyeh called the situation dire.

“We have run out of medical supplies, we cannot cope with the large number of victims and in a few hours the generators will come to a standstill,” he told Al Jazeera. ‘The hospital morgue is completely full.

“We keep the dead in our freezer trucks,” he added.

He said thousands of victims were cared for at the facility, and it is now without electricity.

“If you want to kill what’s left of us, let us know. “If this hospital collapses, the entire healthcare sector will collapse,” he said.

Al-Shifa Hospital suffers from severe overcrowding, with a bed occupancy rate of 164 percent according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Hamas has claimed that dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured after an Israeli rocket attack hit an ambulance convoy. Pictured: Smoke rising over Gaza City on November 3

About 16 hospitals in Gaza are no longer functioning due to damage from strikes and a lack of fuel, the Health Ministry said.

The WHO warned on Wednesday that the fuel shortage “immediately endangers the lives” of the injured and other patients.

More than 23,500 people have been injured in the four-week war in Gaza, the Health Ministry said, while the death toll has surpassed 9,200.

About 1,400 people were killed in attacks by Hamas militants in Israel on October 7, sparking the war.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow…