Monday 21 July 2014 14.06 An Israeli tank shell has hit the third floor of Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza, killing four people and wounding 16, according to Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra.
He said the third floor housed an intensive care unit and operating theatres.
Other shells had fallen around the hospital, he added, with officials calling on the Red Cross to help evacuate patients.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
In the past it has accused Hamas Islamist militants of firing rockets from the grounds of Gaza hospitals and of seeking refuge in the buildings.
The United Nations Security Council has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza as the Palestinian death toll reaches more than 500.
Earlier, medics said the bodies of 16 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the south of Gaza have been found, pushing the Palestinian death toll to 501.
Mr Qudra said they were killed in an airstrike yesterday in southern Khan Yunis during the bloodiest day in Gaza in years.
The UNSC has expressed concern at the escalation of violence after meeting yesterday to discuss almost two weeks of fighting between Israel and the Islamist Hamas group.
"The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern about the growing number of casualties," Rwandan UN Ambassador Eugene Gasana told reporters after an emergency meeting of the 15-member council.
"The members of the Security Council called for an immediate cessation of hostilities."
Jordan had requested the meeting after more than 60 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed as Israel shelled Gaza's Shejaia neighbourhood and battled militants in the bloodiest fighting in the 13-day offensive.
"The members of the Security Council called for respect of international humanitarian law including protection of civilians," Mr Gasana said.
"The members of the Security Council emphasised the need to improve the humanitarian situation, including through humanitarian pauses."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the Middle East in a bid to help broker a ceasefire, condemned the killings in Shejaia as an "atrocious action" and called for an immediate end to the fighting.
Mr Ban was in Qatar yesterday and is due to visit Cairo, Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Israel's military has said it is investigating reports that one of its soldiers had been captured, after claims from a Hamas spokesman.
"Qassam Brigades captured a Zionist soldier," said Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
He identified the soldier as Shaul Aron and recited what he said was Aron's identity tag number.
Although Israel's UN Ambassador Ron Prosor dismissed the reports, a military spokesman later refused to rule out the possibility Mr Aron had been captured.
"We still cannot rule it out," military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said.
If his capture is confirmed, Mr Aron would be the first Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza since 2011, when Israel released more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to free Gilad Shalit, a soldier who was held for more than five years after his capture in a raid.
There were celebrations in the West Bank following the announcement.
On 12 July, the Security Council called for a ceasefire between Palestinians and Israelis and expressed serious concern about the welfare and protection of civilians on both sides.
The United States, a close ally of Israel, agreed to the statement after the Arab Group threatened to push for a resolution.
Kerry appears to criticise Israel
US Secretary of State John Kerry appeared to criticise Israel in candid remarks caught on an open microphone between television interviews yesterday.
Mr Kerry was heard talking about Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza to a State Department official identified as Jonathan Finer just before appearing on the Fox News Sunday political talk show.
"I hope they don't think that's an invitation to go do more," Mr Kerry said. "That better be the warning to them."
Mr Kerry was then heard to say: "It's a hell of a pinpoint operation, it's a hell of a pinpoint operation," in apparent frustration over the civilian toll in the Israeli operation.
"We've got to get over there," he was then heard to say. "I think, Jon, we ought to go tonight. I think it's crazy to be sitting around. Let's go."
When confronted over the remarks by Fox host Chris Wallace, Mr Kerry reiterated Israel's right to self-defence.
"I think it's very, very difficult in these situations, obviously very difficult," Mr Kerry said.
"You have people who've come out of tunnels. You have a right to go in and take out those tunnels. We completely support that. And we support Israel's right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in."
Mr Kerry travels to Cairo today for crisis talks on Gaza, following US President Barack Obama's call for an "immediate ceasefire" between Israelis and Palestinians in the conflict.
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