Tel Aviv, 29 December 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The Israeli military killed seven people in a missile attack on a hospital in the eastern part of Gaza City, Palestinian civil defence officials said on Sunday.

The Israeli missile was reported to have hit the fifth floor of the Al-Wafa Hospital, injuring others and prompting an evacuation of the building in panic.

Israeli military officials, offering a different version, said the hospital was not being used at the time of the attack and was instead functioning as the command centre of a Hamas air defence unit which was targeted with a precision attack.

Information from both sides could not be independently verified.

Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023, Israel has repeatedly hit Gaza's hospitals, school buildings and refugee camps with missiles, saying that Hamas fighters and weapons are hidden there.

On Saturday the Israeli military ended a three-day operation at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern city of Beit Lahia, during which it said it arrested 240 Hamas fighters.

The patients were evacuated, the hospital ceased operations, and parts of the buildings were gutted by fire.

At least 33 hospitals in the Gaza Strip have had to close since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, according to Palestinian health officials.

Under international law, warring parties are not allowed to attack or repurpose hospitals for military reasons, and international law experts have argued that even if hospitals are used for military purposes, this does not allow the other side to target them.

The well-being of patients, medical staff and others in need of protection must always be taken into account, they say.

MIA file photo