OIC strongly condemns Israeli 'war crime' attack on Gaza hospital

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned an attack by Israel on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in central Gaza, denouncing it as an act of "organized state terrorism" and a "war crime."

In a written statement late Tuesday, the OIC said it "strongly condemns the brutal Israeli massacre in the Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip and considers it organized state terrorism and a war crime."

It underlined that the 57-member bloc of Muslim nations held the "Israeli occupation accountable for the consequences of its crimes, terrorist practices and brutal attacks against the Palestinian people, which contradict all human values and constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."

Emphasizing the need for accountability and punishment for such acts of "organized state terrorism," the OIC called on the international community, and especially the UN Security Council, to "urgently intervene to stop the war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and provide international protection for the Palestinian people."

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

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

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