See the Bodies of victim after Gaza hospital strike, Arab leaders cancel Biden summit

A strike on a Gaza hospital compound which health officials there said killed hundreds of people has provoked outrage and condemnation from around the world, with protests on the streets of Amman, Tunis, Beirut and Tehran.The news came after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II canceled a planned meeting with US President Joe Biden in Amman. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments.

Russia says Israel should provide evidence it didn't strike Gaza hospital

Russia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that a strike on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians was a shocking crime, adding that Israel should provide satellite images to prove that it was not involved in the attack.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Radio Sputnik that the attack was a shocking "dehumanising" crime.

7:14am: Rescuers still pulling bodies from the rubble of Gaza hospital

Al Jazeera carried footage showing a frantic scene as rescue workers scoured blood-stained debris for survivors. Rescuers and civilians were shown carrying away at least four victims in body bags. A Gaza civil defence chief gave a death toll of 300, while health ministry sources put it at 500.

5:50am: Guterres says Hamas attacks do not justify 'collective punishment' of Palestinians

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas did not justify the "collective punishment" of the Palestinian people.

The Hamas attacks on October 7 "cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people", Guterres told delegates at a forum of China's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative in Beijing.

He also called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire".

"I call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ... ease the epic human suffering we are witnessing," Guterres said at the same event.

5:45am: US issues 'do not travel' advisory for Lebanon

The US State Department on Tuesday raised its travel alert for Lebanon to "do not travel," citing the security situation related to rocket, missile, and artillery exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah.

The State Department authorised the voluntary, temporary departure of family members of US government personnel and some non-emergency personnel from the US Embassy in Beirut because of the unpredictable security situation in Lebanon.

4:37am: Air strike shatters 'sanctuary' image that Gaza's hospitals had

For tens of thousands of families in Gaza, hospitals became a refuge from seemingly endless Israeli shelling. Then came the strike Tuesday night on Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza, which the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory said killed at least 500 people.

Residents who have been told to flee the north of the Palestinian territory had packed the courtyards and corridors of the territory's overwhelmed hospitals in the belief they were a safe haven from the Israeli bombardments. Read more here.

3:41am: Hundreds protest in Libya over hospital air strike

Several hundred people protested in Tripoli and other Libyan cities late Tuesday over the deadly strike on a Gaza hospital, according to AFP journalists.

In Tripoli, hundreds of demonstrators of all ages, brandishing Palestinian flags and some covering their faces with Palestinian keffiyehs, crisscrossed the streets of the city centre before converging on Martyrs' Square.

They chanted slogans of support for the residents of Gaza and denounced the strike by the "Zionist enemy". "We give our blood and our souls for Gaza," they chanted in Tripoli and similarly in Misrata, a city 200 kilometres west of the capital.

3:03am: Biden heads to Middle East despite cancelled summit with Arab leaders

Joe Biden will be traveling to Israel as he is expected to express support for the country as well as negotiate humanitarian aid for Gaza. FRANCE 24's Fraser Jackson has the latest from Washington.