Gaza Hospital fire eyewitness: 'I saw at least three charred bodies'

Bilal Ezzat Khudari, who is originally from Gaza City but is now displaced in Deir al-Balah, was sleeping 300 metres away from the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital when an Israeli strike hit its courtyards at around 2am local time.  

"I rushed to the hospital to see what happened and saw the bombing had caused a fire, which then set off gas canisters used by people and led to a bigger inferno," Khadari told Middle East Eye correspondent Mohammed al-Hajjar.

"The fire was 10 to 15 metres tall. It was so big people couldn't help. It kept spreading, and every now and then something would blow up inside, pushing the rescuers back."

Khudari said he saw people inside the blaze being burned alive.

"I saw at least three charred bodies. One of them was a janitor. He had nothing to do with anything.

"There was a falafel vendor who worked and slept here. His wife and son both died in the fire. His son was a good guy, an engineer."