Abbas declares three days of mourning over Gaza hospital deaths

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declared three days of mourning following what Palestinian authorities say was an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza that killed at least 500 people.

Abbas has described the airstrike as genocide. He’s called on the international community to intervene immediately to stop what he said was this massacre.

If confirmed, the hospital explosion will quickly be regarded as among the deadliest Israeli strikes against targets in the occupied Palestinian territories in recent years.

Initial numbers put the death toll at over 300 but that was quickly revised by Gaza’s Health Ministry to over 500. The Israeli Defence Force says its investigating what happened at the hospital.

The Anglican-run facility was earlier hit by Israeli rocket fire on October 14, wounding four people and is one of 22 hospitals in northern Gaza buckling under the weight of a deteriorating humanitarian emergency.

Earlier, a senior UN official describes the situation in Gaza as an “utter catastrophe” while the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees UNRWA confirmed that six people were killed at one of its schools sheltering displaced families.

Bombing hospitals and schools is regarded as a war crime. – Additional info by Reuters

Meanwhile, SABC News spoke to both the Israeli and Palestinian Ambassadors to South Africa.

Videos below:

Israeli Ambassador to SA Eliav Belotsercovsky:

Palestinian Ambassador to SA Hanan Jarrar: