UN chief condemns attack on ambulance convoy in Gaza: 'This must stop'

The United Nations (U.N.) condemned a recent attack by Israel on a convoy of ambulances leaving a Gaza hospital.

“I am horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an ambulance convoy outside Al Shifa hospital,” Antonio Guterres posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 

“Now, for nearly one month, civilians in Gaza, including children & women, have been besieged, denied aid, killed & bombed out of their homes,” Guterres continued. “This must stop.”

Gaza health officials said the Friday strike on the convoy resulted in the death of “a big number” of people. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who claimed responsibility for the strike, countered, saying it killed “a number of Hamas terrorist operatives.”

“A Hamas terrorist cell was identified using an ambulance,” the IDF said in a post on X. “In response, an IDF aircraft struck and neutralized the Hamas terrorists, who were operating within the ambulance.”

Guterres's comments follow warnings from fellow U.N. officials about a dire humanitarian situation in Gaza amid a conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. Thomas White, Gaza director for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said he has traveled “the length and breadth of Gaza in the last few weeks” and called it a “scene of death and destruction,” according to The Associated Press.

The current conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas began with a Hamas attack on Israel in early October that left more than 1,400 people dead. Israeli air campaigns and a recent ground offensive in response have more than 9,200 Palestinians dead, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.