The death toll was by far the highest of any single incident in Gaza during the current violence.
Bodies of Palestinians killed by an explosion at the Ahli Arab hospital are gathered in the front yard of the al-Shifa hospital.
The health minister in the Hamas-run government of Gaza, Mai Alkaila, accused Israel of “a massacre” at Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital. The strike killed hundreds of people and occurred during Israel’s intense 11-day bombing campaign in Gaza. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “barbaric terrorists” in Gaza had attacked the Gaza hospital, not Israel’s military.
Earlier on Tuesday the UN said an Israeli strike had hit one of its schools where at least 4,000 people were sheltering. The agency said six people were killed and dozens injured by the strike. Israel’s military said it was looking into that report. Last week Israel ordered all people living in the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which is only 45km long and home to 2.3 million people, to leave their homes and go south.
Israel has cut off all power, water, food, fuel and medicine supplies into Gaza since the Hamas attack, intensifying an existing blockade of the enclave.