At least 500 people were reportedly killed in a blast at a hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, with Israel and Hamas blaming each other for the bombing.

According to the BBC and other media, the health ministry in Gaza said that an airstrike was carried out by Israel against the Anglican Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

In a statement, the ministry accused Israel of committing a new war crime by bombing the hospital sheltering hundreds of patients, wounded people and refugees who had fled their homes due to airstrikes, labeling the attack "genocide."

The Israeli military, however, rejected the accusation, contending that the explosion was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad during a barrage of rocket fire that passed near the hospital at the time of the blast, which the group denied.