(Previous Incident Code: PALIS008)

A building sustained damage and dozens of injuries were reported, including up to 7 children, due to alleged Hamas rockets fired from Gaza at a hospital in the city of Ashkelon on May 12th, 2021, according to media reports.

Haartz reported that 19 people were treated for injuries at Barzilai Hospital due to rocket strikes within the city. It was unclear how many of these injuries were linked to the strike in question. In total 35 people were treated at the hospital (including seven children) according to Haaretz, 16 injuries were related to incidents that took place outside the city.

Multiple Arabic language sources, including @OMN_4 and @alosbou, put the toll of injured at 26.

On May 12th Al Mayadeen reported that the Al Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, had released a statement saying it had targeted cities and towns including Ashkelon with dozens of heavy rocket salvos. Al Mayadeen reported that prior to the targeting of these areas the group had announced that it would surprise the settlements with a red night at 9 pm.

TRT Arabic was the first outlet to publish images from the scene of the strike at 9:57 PM local time.