Gaza’s health ministry said today that two patients died after an Israeli strike on a hospital in the northern Palestinian enclave, with the army saying it was not “deliberately targeted”.

“The Israeli tanks completely surrounded the hospital, cut off the electricity and opened fire with shells targeting the second and third floors,” said the director of the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia Marwan Sultan.

“This creates serious risks for medical staff and patients,” he stressed.

In a statement, the Hamas government’s health ministry said two patients died “due to the hospital’s siege, power outages and lack of medical supplies.” It did not specify what the patients who died suffered from or their exact cause of death.

The ministry had previously said that the strikes targeted the upper floors of the hospital and that “more than 40 patients” were injured, as well as medical staff.

The army, contacted by AFP, said in a statement that it was operating “close to the Indonesian hospital”.

“Troops operating in the zone have been trained in operational activities and briefed on the importance of limiting damage to civilian and medical infrastructure,” he added.

The military “underlines that the hospital continues to operate without disruption and at full capacity,” saying it was not “deliberately targeted by fire.”

The Israeli military launched a new offensive on October 6 against the town of Jabalia, which is next to the Indonesian hospital, saying it was targeting regrouping Hamas fighters.

He accuses the militants of “systematically trying to mix with the civilian population.”

The civil defense service of Gaza had announced during the past night the death of 33 people from an Israeli strike in the Jabalia refugee camp.

The zone, where hostilities are raging and fresh shelling is taking place, has already twice been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting since the war broke out following an unprecedented attack by the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023.