At least 22 Palestinian civilians were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on a health clinic run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in northern Gaza, local authorities said.
Gaza’s government media office said women, children, and elderly people were among the victims, calling the attack “a full-fledged war crime”.
A medical source said earlier that nine children were among the victims, while dozens of people were injured in the attack on the UN-run clinic, where hundreds of displaced civilians have sheltered in Jabalia town.
According to witnesses, the strike has caused a big fire at the building, burning the bodies of several victims.
The Israeli army admitted the attack, claiming that Hamas members were allegedly operating inside the clinic, without providing any evidence.
A military statement alleged that Hamas’ Jabalia Battalion used the building to attack Israeli targets.
Hamas, for its part, dismissed the Israeli claims as a “blatant fabrication aimed at justifying the crime.”
“This crime reflects the fascist Netanyahu government’s disregard for all humanitarian and international laws and norms,” it said in a statement.
Citing witness accounts, Hamas stressed that all people sheltering inside the UN-run clinic were civilians, including women and children.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry, for its part, denounced the Israeli attack and called for international pressure on Israel “to halt its genocide, displacement and annexation, and impose a political settlement per international law.”
The same UNRWA clinic was attacked by Israeli warplanes during Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023.
The Israeli army has escalated its airstrikes across Gaza since Wednesday morning, killing at least 21 people in separate attacks across the enclave, according to medics.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to escalate attacks on Gaza amid efforts to implement US President Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from the enclave.
Israel began a surprise aerial campaign on Gaza on March 18, and has since killed more than 1,000 victims and injured over 2,500, shattering a January ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
More than 50,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s military onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.