U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres ‘horrified’ by Israeli attack on Gaza ambulance convoy

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that he was “horrified” by the Israeli occupation’s attack on an ambulance convoy in Gaza on Friday and that the war “must stop.”

The attack, said to have killed 15 people and injured over 60, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, occurred when one of its ambulances was attacked “by a missile fired by the Israeli forces” a short distance from the hospital’s Gaza City gate.

“I am horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an ambulance convoy outside Al Shifa hospital. The images of bodies strewn on the street outside the hospital are harrowing,” Guterres said in the statement.

An AFP journalist on the scene of the attack on Friday saw many bodies beside the damaged ambulance outside the hospital, which is densely populated with people seeking refuge from Israeli bombings as well as those injured.

The Israeli occupation said it had launched an air strike on “an ambulance that was identified by forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone.”

Read next: UN’s Guterres: ‘Gaza growing more desperate by the hour’

There is “not nearly enough” food, water, and medicine, while fuel to power hospitals and water plants was running out, he warned.

The UN chief added that “for nearly one month, civilians in Gaza, including children and women, have been besieged, denied aid, killed, and bombed out of their homes,” adding that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “horrific”.

UN shelters in Gaza “are at nearly four times their full capacity and are being hit in bombardments,” Guterres continued, adding that the “Morgues are overflowing. Shops are empty. The sanitation situation is abysmal. We are seeing an increase in diseases and respiratory illnesses, especially among children. An entire population is traumatized. Nowhere is safe.”

In turn, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has also condemned “Israel’s” attack on the convoy of ambulances in Gaza.

“Israel” has been attacking hospitals, refugee camps, ambulance convoys, schools, and homes hysterically, killing thousands of Palestinians since the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the Israeli aggression on Gaza. 

Dozens killed, injured as ‘Israel’ bombed Rafah-bound ambulance convoy

Earlier on Friday, “Israel” targeted an ambulance convoy departing from Al-Shifa Hospital heading to the Rafah border crossing. 

Ashraf al-Qudra, the Health Ministry Spokesperson, stated that the Red Cross was informed about the moving of the convoy in accordance with international law. Al-Qudra maintained that the IOF targeted the convoy “at the gate of the hospital and then at the Ansar square, the occupation targeted the convoy in more than one location outside Al-Shifa hospital.”

Palestinian media earlier reported that the strike led to dozens killed and injured.

While the Israeli forces claim that they targeted a vehicle used by a Hamas cell, close to a battle zone, footage from the scene of the massacre proves that these “operatives” were mainly children.

In this context, Hamas issued a statement condemning the ongoing Israeli crimes and slamming the “Israeli occupation’s massacres against the three hospitals of Al-Shifa, Al-Quds, and The Indonesian” as “heinous crimes for which we hold the US and Western capitals responsible.” Calling the crime heinous and premeditated, the statement revealed that dozens of people were killed and injured and many ambulances were damaged.

On that note, the IOF have previously targeted ambulances, as well as hospitals, committing numerous massacres against the people of Gaza, with a death toll that has surpassed 9,000.