The Israeli Defence Forces is holding a news conference following the explosion at al Ahli Hospital.

Spokesperson for the IDF, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, makes the following claims:

• A barrage of rockets was launched at 6.15pm by Hamas toward Israel
• A barrage of 10 rockets was fired by the Islamic Jihad at 6.59pm
• At that time there were reports of an explosion at the hospital.

He accuses Hamas of launching a “global media campaign to hide what really happened”.

They have inflated the number of casualties, he says.

“Analysis of our aerial footage confirms that there was no direct hit to the hospital itself,” he says, adding the only damage was to the carpark.

He says an aerial munition launched by Israel would have caused craters and structural damage to nearby buildings, which “do not exist in this instance”.

“The size of damage we see here is due to the warhead of the Islamic Jihad rocket.”

Health ministry issues ‘distress call’ to petrol stations as hospital fuel dwindles in Gaza

The health ministry in Gaza has issued an “urgent distress call” to petrol station owners and civilians with diesel as hospital supplies run out.

It asked them to contact the ministry “in order to save the lives of the wounded and the sick”.

The alert comes after the Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA. yesterday warned all hospitals in Gaza would likely run out of fuel “in 24 hours”.

Hospitals have been relying on backup generators during Israel’s blockade, and an end to electricity would threaten the lives of thousands of patients.

Earlier this week, we heard how health facilities in Gaza were overcrowded with those injured in Israeli airstrikes, with one hospital morgue being forced to turn the carpark into a temporary “graveyard”.

Israel made warning call to hospital before deadly blast – Palestinian envoy

While this IDF news conference continues, the Palestinian envoy to Japan has claimed Israel made a warning call to al Ahli Hospital ahead of the explosion.

The envoy said 500 people had been killed but the death toll was likely to rise further.

Israel has denied it was responsible for the blast, claiming the Palestinian Islamic Jihad misfired rockets launched from Gaza toward Israel.

The Islamic Jihad said it was not involved in the explosion, accusing Israel of striking the hospital.

Hamas and several aid organisations have also blamed Israel.