After Gaza hospital bombing, Australia condemns 'indiscriminate attacks' on civilian infrastructure

Australia condemns "any indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals," the country's prime minister said Wednesday following an Israeli strike that killed hundreds at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza.

Anthony Albanese said the "explosion" at the hospital in central Gaza and the scenes there were "deeply distressing."

"It is clear that there has been a devastating loss of life. Every innocent life matters — whether it is Israeli or Palestinian," Albanese said at a news conference with visiting Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in the capital Canberra.

Protecting civilian lives must come first and respect for international humanitarian law is paramount, said the head of the government of Australia, a close US ally.

"We condemn any indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals. And Australia joins with others in calling for international law to always be upheld," he said, according to an online transcript.

More than 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, a Health Ministry spokesman told Anadolu.

Footage on social media showed corpses scattered across the hospital grounds.

According to an Anadolu reporter, thousands of Palestinians were at the hospital when the building came under bombardment.