More than 21,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza

An Israeli bombardment near a hospital in southern Gaza killed at least 20 people and wounded dozens more on Wednesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

The ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said in a statement that the death toll could rise as rescuers searched for survivors under the rubble of a residential building near Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, a densely-populated city in southern Gaza.

There were many displaced Palestinians inside the building when the attack happened, while rescuers at the site said most of the victims were retrieved in "dismembered parts," according to Xinhua, citing local sources. 

Prior to the attack, the casualties from the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip rose to 21,110 deaths and 55,243 injuries, according to the ministry, adding that during the past 24 hours, 195 people were killed while 325 were injured and transported to hospitals due to Israeli attacks. 

The ministry's spokesman warned against the deliberate targeting by the Israeli army of the vicinity surrounding the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, urging international institutions to take effective and immediate steps to ensure the protection of the complex, its staff, the wounded, and the thousands of displaced people within it.

Israel's military on Wednesday reported three more soldiers killed in action in Gaza, bringing total military losses to 166 since ground operations began on October 20, Reuters reports.

Conflict spreads

Many Western and Middle Eastern governments have voiced concerns regarding the potential broadening of the conflict, including Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Three Lebanese civilians were killed on Wednesday at dawn in an Israeli raid on their house in Lebanon's southern town of Bint Jbeil.

Lebanese military sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that an Israeli warplane fired two air-to-surface missiles at a civilian house in the center of Bint Jbeil, killing three members of a family and wounding a fourth one.

The Lebanon-Israel border witnessed increased tension since October 8 after the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Israel in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting Israel to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

The clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces killed 183 on the Lebanese side, including 128 Hezbollah members and 35 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources.

Iran meanwhile prepared for the funeral of Razi Moussavi, a senior commander in the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who was killed Monday in an Israeli air strike in Syria, according to AFP.

Ramezan Sharif, a spokesman for the IRGC, made the comments at a press conference in the capital Tehran on Wednesday, and vowed to take "tough revenge on Israel this time too," as it had done after previous incidents.

'Grave peril'

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Gazans to be in "grave peril" after more than 11 weeks of fighting rendered most hospitals in the Palestinian territory out of action and led to "acute hunger," AFP reports on Wednesday.

Gaza's spiralling humanitarian crisis has amplified calls for an end to the hostilities.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on the international community to take "urgent steps to alleviate the grave peril facing the population of Gaza and jeopardizing the ability of humanitarian workers to help" the many in need.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed Wednesday his deep concern to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the heavy civilian casualties and the intensifying humanitarian emergency in Gaza.

In a phone conversation, Macron reiterated Israel's obligation to protect civilians, the urgent need to deliver aid to the people of Gaza and the importance of working toward a lasting ceasefire by all regional and international partners, according to a statement issued by the presidential Elysee Palace.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi held talks with visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan on Wednesday on the Gaza conflict, during which they reiterated the call for an immediate ceasefire in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.

During the meeting, the two state leaders agreed that the international community needs to push for an immediate ceasefire and facilitate the entry of more aid in a speedier manner to "make a real difference" in Gaza, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

(With input from agencies)