By Tass

Copyright tass

CAIRO, September 17. /TASS/. Al-Rantisi Hospital for children in Gaza City came under attack from the Israeli Air Force, the Palestinian enclave’s Health Ministry reported on its Telegram channel.

According to it, the incident occurred late on Tuesday evening as the upper floors of the hospital building were attacked three times within minutes. Al-Rantisi Hospital specializes in the treatment of children, including babies, with cancer, kidney diseases, as well as disorders impacting the respiratory and digestive organs. Almost half of all patients were forced to leave the clinic, cutting the therapy short, because of the attack, the ministry said.

On September 16, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that his country’s troops had launched a “powerful operation” to defeat Hamas in Gaza City, the Palestinian enclave’s administrative center. Before that, the Israeli army had repeatedly ordered locals to evacuate, including by dropping leaflets. The Qatari television channel Al Jazeera reported that, on the night of September 15-16 alone, more than 40 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded after Israeli air raids on Gaza City and adjacent neighborhoods.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing residents of border settlements and taking more than 250 hostages. In response, Israel initiated a military operation in the Palestinian enclave to dismantle Hamas’ military and political structures and free all hostages.

According to the latest data of Gaza’s health ministry, the overall death toll from hostilities in the enclave exceeds 64,000, with more than 165,000 people being wounded. As many as 428 Palestinians, including 146 children, have died of starvation.