TEHRAN

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi has condemned Tuesday's devastating attack on the Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, warning that its flames will "soon engulf" Israel.

In a statement posted on X late Tuesday, Raisi said the "flames of American-Israeli bombs" dropped on the Gaza hospital will "soon engulf the Zionists."

"The silence of any free person is not permissible in the face of this war crime," he remarked, declaring Wednesday as the day of "public mourning" countrywide.

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

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

The airstrike came on the 11th day of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, with a growing international chorus of non-governmental groups and world leaders saying the Israeli bombing campaign on the besieged enclave -- including healthcare facilities, homes, and houses of worship -- violates international law and may constitute war crimes.

Earlier, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani also condemned the hospital attack, describing it as a "brutal war crime" and "genocide."

"The Zionist regime, in the continuation of its shameful crimes against the Palestinian people, by committing this heinous and horrible crime, has once again shown its ferocity and brutality to everyone," he stated.

Meanwhile, thousands of people assembled at central Tehran's Palestine Square on Tuesday night in support of the people of Palestine and to condemn the attack on the Gaza hospital.