Israel denies bombing Gaza ambulance, killing medics

GAZA STRIP: The Israeli military on Thursday denied it had bombed an ambulance in the central Gaza Strip a day earlier which killed four medics and two other people.

"A review was conducted based on the details provided to the IDF (Israeli military) which shows that no strike was carried out in the described area," the army said in a statement to AFP.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society had said six people were killed Wednesday in an Israeli strike on their ambulance at the entrance to the Deir al-Balah area of central Gaza.

The roof of the ambulance was completely destroyed and part of the vehicle crushed, AFP photos show.

Jagan Chapagain, the head of the International Federation for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, called the attack "unacceptable" in a social media post and said "I strongly condemn their killing."

Crowds of mourners gathered Thursday for the funerals of the medics, a shredded and bloodied Palestinian Red Crescent uniform placed atop one of the white shrouds.

The Red Crescent said the ambulance had been on Salah al-Din Road, a highway running north-south through the Gaza Strip that has in the past been used by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the Israeli military advance.

Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said multiple people were killed in an Israeli strike near a hospital in Deir al-Balah.

Over 23,350 people have been killed, mostly civilians, in more than three months of war between Hamas and Israel, according to the latest Gaza health ministry toll.

Before Wednesday's ambulance strike, the health ministry said more than 120 ambulances had been destroyed and at least 326 healthcare workers killed since the start of the conflict.

The war erupted with the bloody Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in around 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The Israeli military says 186 soldiers have since been killed fighting in Gaza.