Hamas says 'barbaric' Israeli strike damaged Gaza children's hospital

Hamas on Saturday denounced as "barbaric" overnight strikes it said damaged a Gaza children's hospital, while the Israeli army said it was responding to rocket fire from the besieged Palestinian territory.

The Israeli army said it struck three Hamas targets, including a rocket manufacturing site, underground infrastructure and a military post, after two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip.

But Gaza's ruling Hamas movement said in a statement that a "barbaric" Israeli strike had damaged the Al-Dorra Children's Hospital and a centre for people with special needs.

Medical sources in Gaza said the strikes "lightly wounded" two civilians, including a child.

The Israeli army claimed that two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel and that they were intercepted by the Iron Dome Aerial Defence System.

"Hamas will bear the consequences for all terror emanating from Gaza," it said in a tweet.

Israeli emergency medical services said several people were treated for shock.

Read more: Israel's blockade had already crippled Gaza, then came Covid-19

The Islamist group Hamas took control of Gaza following a conflict with the rival Palestinian movement Fatah in 2007.

Israel has launched three devastating wars on the coastal Palestinian territory, where about two million Palestinians live, since then.

It has also maintained a crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip which has plunged hundreds of thousands of people into poverty.

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