A World Health Organisation spokesperson has confirmed that the Al Shifa hospital had been “coming under bombardment”, adding that 20 hospitals in Gaza were now out of action entirely.

Asked about the Gaza health ministry’s allegation of an Israeli strike on the hospital courtyard, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said: “I haven’t got the detail on Al Shifa but we do know they are coming under bombardment”.

Asked to elaborate, she said there was “intense violence” at the site, quoting colleagues on the ground, Reuters reports.