ICRC announces 22 dead in strike near its office in Gaza

The International Committee of the Red Cross says its offices in Gaza were damaged by bombings, which killed 22 people who had taken shelter around its compound.

“Large caliber projectiles fell a few meters from the office and residences of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday afternoon,” said an ICRC press release.

He added that all parties have an obligation to take precautions to avoid harm to civilians and humanitarian facilities.

An Israeli army spokesperson told the BBC that initial investigations suggested there was “no indication” that it had carried out a strike in the area, but added that the incident was ” under examination”.

“The strike damaged the structure of the ICRC office, which is surrounded by hundreds of displaced civilians living in tents, including many of our Palestinian colleagues,” the ICRC said.

“This incident caused a massive influx of casualties to the nearby Red Cross field hospital, with the hospital receiving 22 dead and 45 injured, with reports of additional casualties.”

The ICRC said the “serious security incident” was one of several incidents in recent days.

“We denounce these incidents which endanger the lives of humanitarians and civilians,” the press release added.

The Hamas health ministry in Gaza gave different figures, saying 25 people were killed and 50 injured in the bombings, which it blamed on Israel.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy the Palestinian armed group in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which around 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed and 251 others taken hostage.

Since then, more than 37,390 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it reportedly identified 14,680 children, women and elderly people among the dead at the end of April.

Separately, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that spiraling hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah risked triggering catastrophe for the region and beyond.

Mr. Guterres accused both sides of increasingly warlike rhetoric and called for immediate de-escalation, saying the world could not afford for Lebanon to become “another Gaza.”

Recent months have been marked by a series of retaliatory cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group says it is fighting Israel to support its ally, Hamas, in Gaza.