GAZA CITY, Palestine

Two Palestinians were killed and 26 others injured on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike targeting tents sheltering for journalists and displaced people within Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, media office in the enclave said.

Among the injured were two journalists, said the office in a statement.

The Israeli army has, for the ninth consecutive time since Oct. 7, 2023, bombed tents for journalists and displaced people within the hospital grounds, the office said.

It condemned the Israeli airstrike on the hospital, describing it as a civilian institution protected under international and humanitarian law.

The office held Israel, the US, and other participating countries “fully responsible for these systematic crimes against hospitals, journalists, civilians, and displaced people in Gaza.”

It called on the international community, international organizations, and the UN to "apply pressure on the occupation (Israel) to halt these crimes, which constitute genocide and ethnic cleansing against hospitals, journalists, civilians, and displaced persons in the Gaza Strip."

Israel has systematically targeted civilian facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, in its ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Under the rules of war, targeting such civilian facilities can constitute a war crime.

Israel has continued a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 43,000 Palestinians and rendering the enclave almost uninhabitable.

It faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in the blockaded enclave.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala