Gaza: An Israeli air strike on an ambulance being used to evacuate the wounded from besieged northern Gaza killed 15 people and injured 60 others on Friday, the Hamas-controlled enclave's health ministry said.
Israel's military said it had identified and hit an ambulance "being used by a Hamas terrorist cell". It said Hamas fighters were killed in the strike, and accused the group of transferring militants and weapons in ambulances.
Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq said allegations its fighters were present were "baseless". Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for Gaza's health ministry, said the ambulance was part of a convoy that Israel targeted near Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital.
Qidra said Israel had targeted the convoy of ambulances in more than one location, including at al-Shifa Hospital gate and at Ansar Square a kilometer (0.6 miles) away.
In a statement on the incident, Israel's military gave no evidence to support its assertion that the ambulance was linked to Hamas but said it intended to release additional information.
"We emphasize that this area is a battle zone. Civilians in the area are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southwards for their own safety," the military said.
Reuters was unable to independently verify either side's account.
Video shared on social media, which Reuters has verified, showed people lying in blood next to an ambulance with flashing lights on a city street as people rushed to help. Another video showed three ambulances standing in a line, with about a dozen people lying either motionless or barely moving next to them.
World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post he was "utterly shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances evacuating patients", adding that patients, health workers and medical facilities must be protected.
Earlier on Friday, Qidra said ambulances would send critically injured Palestinians who urgently need to be taken to Egypt to be treated from besieged Gaza City to the south of the enclave.
Israel, which has accused Hamas of concealing command centres and tunnel entrances in al-Shifa hospital, ordered all civilians to leave the north of Gaza last month and its military encircled the area on Thursday.
Despite its order for civilians to leave northern areas of Gaza, Israel's military has continued to bombard the south of the strip as well.
Hamas and al-Shifa hospital authorities have denied the facility is used as a base by militant fighters.
No hopes of ceasefire
Hamas has prepared for a long, drawn-out war in Gaza and believes it can hold up Israel's advance long enough to force its arch enemy to agree to a ceasefire, two sources close to the organization's leadership said.
The group believes international pressure for Israel to end the siege could force a ceasefire and negotiated settlement that would see the militant group emerge with a tangible concession, such as the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, the sources said.
On a visit to the region, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday and called for a humanitarian pause in fighting that he said would facilitate work to release hostages, allow aid into Gaza, but not prevent Israel from defending itself.
In a televised address, Netanyahu rejected the idea of a pause unless hostages are freed.
"I made clear that we are continuing full force and that Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire which does not include the release of our hostages," Netanyahu said.
US, Arab leaders to meet today
Blinken on Saturday will meet with the Saudi, Qatari, Emirati and Egyptian foreign ministers as well as Palestinian representatives in Amman, the Jordanian foreign ministry said.
The Arab leaders will stress the "Arab stance calling for an immediate ceasefire, delivering humanitarian aid and ways of ending the dangerous deterioration that threatens the security of the region", the ministry said in a statement.
Washington has maintained robust military and political support for Israel, while calling on its ally to take steps to avoid civilian deaths and address Gaza's humanitarian crisis.
While Blinken was in Israel, the leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group warned the United States that if Israel did not stop its assault on Gaza then the conflict could widen into a regional war.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in his first speech since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted on October 7, also threatened the US, hinting his Iran-backed paramilitary group was ready to confront American warships in the Mediterranean. A heavily armed ally of Gaza's Hamas militants, Hezbollah has been engaging Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border in the biggest flare-up since it fought a war with Israel in 2006.
