(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 18 - Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Wednesday she had been saddened by the bombing of a Gaza hospital that killed almost 500 people and which has been blamed by Hamas on an Israeli airstrike and by Israel on a misfired rocket by Islamic Jihad.
"I am deeply saddened by what has happened at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza," she said.
"Italy expresses its deep condolences for the victims and its closeness to their families and the wounded.
"While we await definitive confirmation of the dynamics of the events," she added, "we once again renew our commitment to protect the civilian population, solve the most urgent humanitarian problems and ensure a speedy solution to this crisis."
Some 471 people died in the blast while 314 were injured, about 30 of them seriously, the Palestinian health ministry said Wednesday.
Israeli strikes on Gaza have now killed at least 3,478 people and wounded more than 12,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and nearly two-thirds of those killed were children.
Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead, health authorities said.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians who were slain in Hamas' October 7 surprise attack across the Gaza-Israel border.
The assault also resulted in some 200 being taken captive into Gaza. (ANSA).