Gaza Hospital Blast: Those Responsible Should Be Held Accountable, Says India's Modi

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed deep shock over the deadly blast at a Gaza City hospital Tuesday night.

About 500 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike on the Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital in central Gaza, the region's health ministry said.

"Deeply shocked at the tragic loss of lives at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. Our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, and prayers for the speedy recovery of those injured," the Indian prime minister said. "Civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict are a matter of serious and continuing concern. Those involved should be held responsible."

About 11 days have passed since Israel's bombing campaign on Gaza began as a retaliation to the Hamas group's multi-pronged ambush.

Israel claimed the hospital, where a number of Palestinians were not only being treated but also seeking refuge from the airstrikes, was bombed by a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket.

"An enemy rocket barrage" that was aimed at Israel was passing the hospital at the time of the strike, said a spokesperson for the Israeli military, who blamed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group for the blast.

Tuesday night's hospital bombing was the deadliest attack in Gaza since the renewed conflagration in the region.

"This is a massacre," said Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, ​a doctor with the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in Gaza.

World leaders condemned the bombing, with many saying it was a violation of international law.

"The news coming out of Gaza is horrific and absolutely unacceptable ... international law needs to be respected in this and in all cases. There are rules around wars and it's not acceptable to hit a hospital," Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau told reporters.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi declared a day of "public mourning" Wednesday.

"The flames of the U.S.-Israeli bombs, dropped this evening on the Palestinian victims injured at the ... hospital in Gaza, will soon consume the Zionists," Raisi said, Iranian state media reported.

Qatar's foreign ministry called the strike "a brutal massacre" and "a heinous crime against defenseless civilians."

"I am horrified by the images of the explosion in a hospital in Gaza. Innocent civilians were injured and killed. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims," said German Channel Olaf Scholz. "A thorough investigation of the incident is imperative."

President Joe Biden, who landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, said he was "deeply saddened and outraged" by the explosion. The U.S. president also backed Israel's account that the deadly hospital blast was caused by Palestinian militants.