GAZA CITY, Palestine

More than 250 Palestinians have been killed and injured in an ongoing Israeli raid on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the government media office said Tuesday.

The Israeli army raided the facility on Monday, which houses thousands of ill and wounded patients, as well as displaced people.

“Israeli forces heavily opened fire as they stormed the hospital, killing and injuring more than 250 civilians,” the media office said in a statement.

The office said several children were executed by Israeli forces at the hospital, without providing any further details.

The Israeli army said early Tuesday that its forces had killed 50 Palestinians and detained 180 others during its raid on the hospital.

“This is a clear war crime and a brazen violation of international law,” the media office said.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 31,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in the enclave, and nearly 74,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60%of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the ICJ. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul