Red Crescent says 15 killed in strike on Gaza ambulance outside Al-Shifa hospital

The Palestinian Red Crescent says at least 15 people have been killed in an Israeli strike on an ambulance outside Gaza City's biggest hospital.

BBC Verify has verified graphic videos showing badly injured and possibly dead people lying outside the Al-Shifa hospital.

The Israeli military has confirmed it struck an ambulance that it says was being used by Hamas operatives.

It did not say where the air strike took place.

"An IDF aircraft struck an ambulance that was identified by forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone," it said in a statement.

It said a number of Hamas fighters had been killed and accused Hamas of transferring militants and weapons in ambulances, but has not yet supplied evidence of this.

"We emphasise that this area is a battle zone. Civilians in the area are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southwards for their own safety," it added.

Earlier, the Hamas-run health ministry said 13 people were killed in a blast outside Al-Shifa.

In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), the Palestinian Red Crescent said "the deliberate targeting of medical teams constitutes a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions, a war crime".

BBC Verify studied three videos - one of which is very graphic - and established that they were filmed outside the hospital and were uploaded on Friday afternoon.

In one video, people were filmed lying in pools of blood in the road next to vehicles - some were severely injured and some were not moving.