The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has denied Israeli suggestions it was responsible for a blast at the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City, the Reuters news agency quotes the militant group as saying.

More from Mark Regev, senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister, who's been speaking to BBC News about the blast at the hospital in Gaza.

"I urge you to be cautious. There are very serious indications that it’s not us."

"Hamas wants to have a propaganda victory, saying Israel has killed innocent civilians."

"There’s no evidence to support that claim," Regev said.

The BBC is working to verify what happened at the hospital on Tuesday evening.

More from Mark Regev, the senior adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister, who has told BBC News it is the belief of the Israeli authorities that a Hamas rocket was to blame for the blast at the Al Ahli hospital.

"We know that at the time of this tragedy in Gaza, there was a huge barrage against targets in central Israel. We had the siren here in Tel Aviv, and I went to a bomb shelter," he said.

"We know they fired rockets at that same time. Hamas put out a statement that they were sending a long-range rocket on Haifa [northern Israel] at this time."

"Now no rocket actually reached Haifa. Where did that rocket go? Where did it land?"

The BBC is working to verify what caused the blast at the Al Ahli hospital, which Palestinian authorities have blamed on the Israeli military.

More from the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where demonstrators opposed to the rule of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) have clashed with security forces who responded by firing tear gas.

The AFP news agency says people in the crowd are calling for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to quit over how he has responded to the conflict between Israel and his political rivals Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas has cancelled a trip to Jordan where he had been due to meet US President Joe Biden, with an official saying an emergency meeting of the PA's leadership was being convened.

Mark Regev, senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister, has told the BBC the Israeli authorities are looking at exactly what happened and said its military would not "deliberately target a hospital".

The Israel Defense Forces have posted on X, formerly Twitter, that they believe the strike against the Al Ahli hospital was from a rocket barrage fired by Palestinian militants.

The IDF post in full is:

Hamas officials say that hundreds of people have died, after what they say was an Israeli strike on the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City.

Video shows chaotic scenes outside the hospital as emergency workers attended to casualties and took them to a nearby hospital.

The Israeli military says it is looking into the incident.

The BBC is working to verify what happened.

Chris Mason
Political editor

It looks likely UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak may travel to the Middle East in the coming days.

Downing Street are not confirming any trip to Israel and neighbouring countries. "We will set out travel plans in the usual way, I couldn't get into speculation," No 10 said.

The government is likely to regard a visit as important, to express support for Israel and seek to ensure aid can be delivered to Gaza.

We're seeing pictures of angry scenes in Ramallah, a city in the occupied West Bank, which is controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

Footage being broadcast live shows demonstrators clashing with the authorities there.

Abbas cancels meeting with Bidenpublished at 20:21 British Summer Time 17 October 2023

20:21 BST 17 October 2023

Barbara Plett Usher
US State Department correspondent

This is a disaster in every way and could be for President Biden’s trip to Israel.

First of all, an explosion at a clearly civilian location like a hospital.

And then, one filled not only with the sick and wounded, but people taking shelter in what they thought was a "safe zone".

The Palestinians are saying it was an Israeli air strike. The Israelis are saying they're investigating the source of the explosion.

The Americans will probably be cautious about what they say, or at least about assigning blame, until there are more details.

But it's going to shift the focus of Biden’s trip much more onto the dangers for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and strain his discussions with Arab leaders in Amman.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has cancelled his meeting with Biden, which was due to take place in Jordan.

The BBC's international editor Jeremy Bowen says he has received a statement in a phone call from the spokesperson’s office of the Israel Defence Forces, reacting to what Palestinian officials have said was an Israeli strike on the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza.

The statement says "a hospital is a highly sensitive building and is not an IDF target."

"The IDF is investigating the source of the explosion and as always is prioritising accuracy and reliability."

"We urge everyone to proceed with caution when reporting unverified claims of a terrorist organisation."

Tom Bateman
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

The Al Ahli hospital is fully funded by the Anglican Church, say church officials.

I’ve been speaking to Canon Richard Sewell who is Dean of St George’s College - one of the Anglican Church’s top figures in Jerusalem.

He says church officials understand that around 6,000 displaced people were sheltering in the hospital courtyard by the end of last week. The hospital says it was first hit by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday.

That strike injured four people, after which around 5,000 people left the courtyard - leaving around 1,000 remaining there.

The Al Ahli hospital receives much of its funding from Episcopal Church donors in the US, say officials.

They say it is totally independent of any political factions in Gaza.

Al Ahli hospital is funded by the Anglican Church, and Richard Sewell, Dean of St George’s College – one of the church's top figures in Jerusalem – has posted on X, external, formerly Twitter, that the hospital in Gaza took “a direct hit from an Israeli missile”.

He says early reports suggest hundreds of women and children have been killed, and calls the act the “deliberate killing of vulnerable civilians”.

“The bombs must stop now. There can be no possible justification for this."

As we've reported, the Israeli military has not confirmed their forces were behind the attack.

The director general of the World Health Organization "strongly condemns" the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says early reports indicate hundreds of deaths and injuries.

"We call for the immediate protection of civilians and health care, and for the evacuation orders to be reversed. #NotATarget," he posted on X., external

The BBC has also spoken a British-Palestinian surgeon Professor Ghassan Abu Sittah - who was working at the hospital when the explosion - which Palestinian officials say was an Israeli strike - happened.

"Parts of the hospital are on fire," he says. "I don’t know whether that is the emergency department. But it's certainly the operating suite, part of the roof has fallen. There is glass everywhere".

Sittah confirms he is safe, and says there were lots of people taking refuge at the hospital.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declared three days of mourning following the air strike on Gaza's Al Ahli hospital, Palestinian state media reports.

As we reported earlier, the Israelis said the cause of the blaze at the hospital was not clear and that the military was looking into it.

The BBC has managed to speak to unnamed doctor working at the hospital when the explosion - which Palestinian officials say was an Israeli strike on the hospital - happened.

He told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme there was total devastation at the scene of the attack - where some 4,000 displaced persons were seeking refuge.

He added that 80% of the hospital was out of service, and that hundreds of people were killed or injured in the blast.

He said the hospital was empty as people were busy trying to rescue the survivors of the strike.

This is the first image from the scene of the alleged hospital strike in Gaza that the BBC has verified.

Tom Bateman
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Pictures emerging from Al Ahli Arab hospital show scenes of chaos - with bloodied and maimed casualties being rushed out on stretchers in the darkness.

Bodies and wrecked vehicles can be seen lying in the rubble strewn street outside.

Unconfirmed videos appeared to show a huge explosion shortly beforehand.

Hundreds of displaced people had been sheltering in a hall on the hospital grounds, according to locals.

Civil defence officials say the explosion was the result of an Israeli airstrike and that hundreds are trapped in the rubble. The Israeli military says it is looking into the incident.

The media office of the Hamas government in Gaza has called the attack on the hospital in the Gaza Strip a "war crime".

In a statement, it adds: "The hospital was housing hundreds of sick and wounded, and people forcibly displaced from their homes" as a result of other strikes.

The statement says "hundreds of victims are still under the rubble".

As we reported below, a spokesman of the Israeli military would not immediately confirm if his forces were responsible. "We will look into it", he said in a televised briefing.