Israeli airstrike kills 4 and injures 40 at hospital courtyard in Gaza

Four people were killed Sunday by an Israeli airstrike on a hospital courtyard in central Gaza where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, according to Al Aqsa hospital and civil defense officials.

Another 40 people were injured in the attack, the Gaza Government Media Office said.

About 5,000 people have been sheltering on the grounds, according to hospital officials.

The office said it was the seventh time that the camp inside the grounds of the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah had been struck since January and called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop attacks against civilians.

The Israeli military said it conducted a precise strike on a Hamas command center “embedded inside a compound that previously served as the ‘Shuhadah Al-Aqsa’ hospital.” The military also said it took steps to limit harming civilians and blamed Hamas for using civilian infrastructure.

Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 40 people on Sunday, including at least 13 children. Many of the dead and wounded had been brought to the Al-Aqsa hospital on Sunday.