There was utter panic in one Gaza City neighborhood this evening after an Israeli tank shell hit the crowded al-Quds hospital, setting it ablaze. The area was shelled for most of the day, and desperate patients wounded in the war struggled to get out of their beds and flee the latest Israeli attack.
The fire trapped roughly 40 medical personnel in the hospital, according to Israeli Physicians for Human Rights, and fire trucks at the scene struggled to contain the blaze. The fire in the medical area was reportedly brought under control, but the ability to put the fire out in the administration section was hampered by what officials at the scene described as a fire caused by a white phosphorus shell.
French doctor Regis Garrigue spoke at the Red Crescent operated hospital. “The Israelis are bombing and attacking all around the hospital. We can’t get out. There’s fire, and we’re trapped inside. The water has been cut off.”
There have been persistent reports since the invasion began of Israeli forces attacking ambulances and medical workers: the Israeli military had no comment on the latest attack.