U.N. and medical agencies condemn Israel's Gaza ambulance strike

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By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) — The United Nations Secretary General and aid agencies working in Gaza have condemned Israel's air strike on an ambulance on Friday, which the Israeli military said, without showing evidence, was carrying Hamas militants.

The Health Ministry, a hospital director and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in the Hamas-controlled enclave have said the Israeli strike targeted a convoy of ambulances evacuating wounded people from the besieged northern Gaza area.

Mohammad Abu Selmeyah the director of al-Shifa Hospital, where an ambulance was hit, said 15 people had been killed in the strike and 60 injured. Those killed and injured were mainly people standing by the hospital gate, rather than inside the vehicles, he said.

Israel's military said late on Friday it would present more evidence that an ambulance it struck was being used by Hamas to transport fighters and that the group used ambulances to move militants and weapons as «a method of operation». Hamas has denied both accusations.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a social media post on Saturday «I am horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an ambulance convoy».

The World Health Organisation said it condemned the strike and the medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres described it as «horrendous», and «a new low in an endless stream of unconscionable violence».

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PCRS) said in a statement that a group of five ambulances was seeking to transport people wounded by Israeli bombardment from al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The journey would have required crossing from the northern half of the enclave, which has now been entirely surrounded by