Doctors, aid workers shocked by deadly blast at Gaza hospital

Many of thosewho were killed in a blast thatdestroyed a hospital in Gaza on Tuesdayhad turned to the church-run facility because they believed it would be a relatively safe place when they had nowhere else to go,humanitarian officials said Wednesday.

Elderly people, young children and patients who were too sick or injured to move were crowded inside the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital when it was rocked by an explosion that evening. Some patients were on operating tables when ceilings collapsed on top of them.

"The people who were sheltering they were desperate," Canon Richard Sewell, a leading figure with theAnglican diocese in Jerusalem, which runs the hospital, told CBC's As It Happens. "If they'd had a chance to go elsewhere, they would have done.

"I think they felt they had no choice and just hoped they would be lucky. And tragically, appallingly, they were not lucky, and they were not safe."

Hamasblamed the blast on an Israeli airstrikewhilethe IsraelDefence Forces say "intelligence from multiple sources" showit was caused by a rocket misfiredby Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group.

WATCH | IDF spokesperson warns against explosion 'falsehoods':

IDF spokesperson asks neighbouring countries not to 'fall prey' to Gaza hospital explosion 'falsehoods'

11 months ago

Duration 15:49

'They are siding with the side of darkness,' IDF spokesperson Lt.-Col. Jonathan Conricus said of people and countries who doubt Israel's claim that it was not responsible for the deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza. 'What I'm asking of our dear neighbours in the area is not to fall prey to fake news and falsehoods and lies that are doctored by a terrorist organization.'

Whatever the cause, there have beenmore than 50 strikes against health-care facilities in Gazasince the latest surge of violence,according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza, says 15 health workers have been killed and 27 injured.

Humanitarian workers anddoctors agree that such attacks are particularly abhorrent because, even during a war, health-care facilities and workers trying to save civilian lives aresupposed to be left untouched under international law, includingthe fourth Geneva Convention.

WATCH | Determining the cause:

What experts would look for to determine cause of Gaza hospital blast

11 months ago

Duration 4:09

Andres Gannon, an assistant professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, discusses what evidence experts would use to determine what caused a deadly explosion at a Gaza City hospital. He warns that the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas would make it more difficult to identify the cause.

"The fact that this has been repeatedlyflouted, this rule of law, is creating an untenable situation," said Joseph Bellibeau, executive director atDoctors Without Borders Canada.

"What is happening is unconscionable."

On Tuesday,the hospital was packed with people who'd been forced from their homesas Israel continuedits assault, in retaliation for Hamas'sincursionon Oct. 7. In that attack, Hamas militants killed hundreds of civilians and took more than 150 people hostage including several Canadians.

It's unclear exactly how many people were killed in the hospital blast Tuesday. The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said 471 people died while another 314 were wounded, a tally that would make it one of the deadliest civilian events in the decades-long conflict between Israel and Hamas.

WATCH | Hundreds sheltering in hospitals:

Gaza situation 'unconscionable,' Doctors Without Borders official says after hospital hit by airstrike

11 months ago

Duration 9:41

Doctors Without Borders Canada executive director Joseph Belliveau told Power & Politics on Tuesday from Geneva that hundreds of people are sheltering in hospitals in Gaza 'because they've felt so vulnerable being out in the street that they thought hospitals would be relatively safer places and they should be.'

'Atrocious' conditions

Supported by charities, Al-Ahli ArabHospital is described on its website as "a haven of peace in the middle of one of the world's most troubled places." The 80-bed facility in Gaza City'sZeitoun neighbourhood runs freeprograms to detect breast cancer, support elderly women and offershelp to surrounding communities at no charge.

Now, Belliveausays, physicians have had to movesurgical procedures to other hospitals in the city. He said they are doing operations on floors or in hallways under "atrocious" hygienic conditions without any anesthetic.

He says doctors fear people wounded in the blast willdie because the territory is running out of medicine, water and other critical supplies amid the blockade Israel launched last week.

LISTEN | Nowhere to go in Gaza:

As It Happens5:45Reverend desperately sad and frustrated by Gaza hospital explosion

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Wednesday said Israel would start allowing some food, water and medicine from Egypt into Gaza "as long as these supplies do not reach Hamas."The statement did not specify how much aid would be sent or when it might arrive.

Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's health emergencies program, said it was "inhumane" to leave Gaza's health workers with the dilemma of caring for their patients or fleeing to save their own lives. He said doctors and nurses were choosing their patients over themselves.

"It is absolutely clear to all sides of this conflict where the health facilities are," Ryan said.

"It is absolutely clear health care is not a target ... That is enshrined in international humanitarian law. And we're seeing this breached again and again and again over the last week. And it has to stop. It must stop."

WATCH | U.S. agrees with Israel on cause of blast:

Biden backs Israel's assessment of Gaza hospital blast

11 months ago

Duration 2:49

On a visit to Israel, U.S. President Joe Biden concurred with the Israeli military's assessment that a devastating blast at a Gaza City hospital was caused by an errant rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group but doubt over the claim persisted among Palestinians. Biden also reaffirmed his country's support for Israel's defence against Hamas, and later announced that humanitarian aid would enter Gaza after a deal with Egypt.