15 killed as Israel strikes ambulance convoy in Gaza

The Hamas government in Gaza said Friday an Israeli strike hit a convoy of ambulances, which the health ministry said killed multiple people near the territory's largest hospital.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has condemned the attack, which it says killed 15 people and wounded more than 60 others.

A government statement said Israeli forces targeted "a convoy of ambulances which was transporting the wounded" from Gaza City towards Rafah in the south.

The health ministry announced that "several citizens were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike at the entrance to Al-Shifa hospital" in Gaza City.

An AFP journalist at the scene saw multiple bodies beside a damaged ambulance.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

Al-Shifa Hospital is facing severe overcrowding, with a bed occupancy rate of 164 percent according to the World Health Organization.

Some 16 hospitals across Gaza are no longer functioning due to damage from strikes and a lack of fuel, the health ministry said.

The WHO warned Wednesday that the fuel shortage "immediately risks the lives" of the wounded and other patients.

More than 23,500 people have been wounded across Gaza in four weeks of war, the health ministry said, while the death count has surpassed 9,200.

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

/KN/