At least 40 killed or wounded in Israeli bombing near hospital in central Gaza

GAZA -- At least 40 people were killed or wounded on Wednesday in an Israeli bombing that targeted a house adjacent to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, the media office of Hamas said in a statement.

The statement added that a journalist named Ahmed Badir was killed in the attack, calling on the international community to stop the "war waged by the Israeli army against civilians, including children and women."

Meanwhile, at least four members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance crews were killed after Israeli attacks targeted an ambulance vehicle at the entrance of Deir el-Balah, the PRCS said in a statement.

At least 147 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll in the enclave to 23,357 since the onset of the ongoing conflict on Oct 7, 2023, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said Wednesday.

Israel has been launching a large-scale military offensive in the Palestinian enclave in retaliation for an unprecedented attack by the Hamas movement on southern Israel over three months ago, which claimed the lives of around 1,200 Israelis, according to the Israeli authorities.