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‘Hospitals are sacrosanct’ – UN Commissioner demands accountability for Gaza hospital blast

October 18, 2023 3:09 PM IST

UN | Israel | Benjamin Netanyahu | Gaza | Palestine | Volker Turk

UN high commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, urged those responsible for an air strike that killed about 500 people at a hospital in Gaza on October 17 to be held to account.

Turk said at least six people were also killed after a school from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was hit in al-Maghazi refugee camp.

Gaza authorities said an Israeli air strike killed about 500 people at a hospital in the Palestinian enclave, but Israel said a Palestinian barrage had caused the blast.

The death toll was by far the highest of any single incident in Gaza during the current violence, triggering protests in the occupied West Bank, Istanbul and Amman.

The Palestinian Authority’s health minister, 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 hospital, not Israel’s military.

(Inputs from Reuters)

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