Palestinian officials have reported that an Israeli air strike on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the blockaded Gaza Strip killed hundreds of Palestinians

The Gaza Health Ministry has attributed the hospital blast to an Israeli air raid, while Israel has claimed that the explosion resulted from a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group. The PIJ, in response, has denied the accusation

Situated in the heart of Gaza, the hospital, operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, was hit during a time when it was inundated with thousands of Palestinians seeking refuge in the midst of a series of intense Israeli air assaults that covered a significant portion of the besieged Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Shifa Hospital, where hundreds of victims of the al-Ahli Hospital blast were taken, will run out of fuel on Wednesday unless more supplies enter the Gaza Strip, the hospital's general director said

The hospital, Gaza's largest, is stretched far beyond its capacity following the al-Ahli explosion, Mohammed Abu Selmia said Wednesday, adding that health workers were still treating severely wounded patients

"They are all in a terrible situation," he told The Associated Press. ¿A young woman whose limbs were amputated, a child whose intestines came out, many others have had limb amputations, bleeding in the brain, bleeding in the liver and spleen."

He said earlier that doctors were performing operations on the floor without anesthesia and that a shortage of essential medical supplies was an urgent issue

If the hospital runs out of fuel, it could be forced into a total shutdown of services, he said, adding that doctors would "remain with the sick and wounded".

Gaza's Interior Ministry said Israel renewed airstrikes before dawn on Wednesday and hit locations across the Gaza Strip after the blast at al-Ahli Hospital. At least 37 people were killed following attacks in the al-Qasasib and Halima al-Saadia areas of Jabalia, north of Gaza, it said

President Joe Biden, in the meanwhile, touched down in Israel for a diplomatic scramble to prevent the war with Hamas from spiralling into an even larger conflict, a challenge that became more difficult as outrage swept through the Middle East over an explosion that killed hundreds in a Gaza Strip hospital

Biden was originally scheduled to visit Jordan as well, but his meetings with Arab leaders were called off as he was leaving Washington, costing him an opportunity for the face-to-face conversations that he views as crucial for navigating this fraught moment

Now Biden's only stop is Tel Aviv, where he's expected to push for allowing critical humanitarian aid into Gaza during meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel has been preparing for a potential ground invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas' attacks on October 7, which killed 1,400 Israelis