GAZA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least six Palestinians were killed and more than 20 others wounded early Thursday in an Israeli airstrike on the surgery department of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security and medical sources said.
Security sources told Xinhua that an Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile at the second floor of the complex, which houses the surgery department, causing extensive damage to the department and nearby sections.
Atef al-Hout, director of the medical complex, told Xinhua that the strike directly hit the building and significantly damaged intensive care units and surgical wards.
Civil defense and rescue teams, along with medical personnel, rushed to the site to extinguish a fire and evacuate the victims, the security sources said.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza's Civil Defense, told Xinhua that rescue teams had recovered six bodies and evacuated more than 20 wounded, some of them in critical condition.
In a statement, Gaza's health authorities said the dead included medical personnel, patients and their companions.
The authorities condemned the attack as "a serious attack on the health system and a flagrant violation of international laws and conventions."
They called on the international community, UN agencies and human rights organizations to intervene urgently to protect hospitals, medical staff and patients, halt such attacks and hold those responsible accountable.
In response, the Israeli army said in a statement that it had "struck a senior Hamas terrorist and additional terrorists from Hamas' military wing while they were operating within Nasser Hospital."
It added that Hamas "had established a presence within the hospital complex and used it as a command center for military and terrorist activities against IDF troops and the State of Israel."
Hamas rejected the allegations, describing them as an attempt to justify what it called a new war crime against a civilian medical facility protected under international law.■
