New Delhi: The Left parties on Wednesday condemned the attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of people, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) calling it a "war crime" and "genocide".
"The bombing of a Gaza hospital late last night that has killed at least 500 Palestinians needs to be called out for what it is - a war crime. Stop this genocide," the CPI(M) said in a post on 'X'.
The party's general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the world must wake up to declare this a criminal war crime and take appropriate action.
CPI(ML)-New Democracy, a breakaway from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), called for protests from October 18 to October 21 and also demanded that the Indian government condemn the attack.
"US president is visiting Israel today which fully exposes the hypocrisy of US Admn. of supporting human rights and respecting humanitarian law. In fact the only thing they care is their imperialist interests...," the CPI(ML)-New Democracy alleged in a statement.
A massive explosion at a hospital in Gaza City killed hundreds of people Tuesday, Hamas said, after intensifying bombardments near towns in southern Gaza rattled civilians where Israel had ordered them to take refuge.
Hamas attributed the blast to an Israeli airstrike, but the Israeli military said it was not involved and the explosion was caused by a misfired Palestinian rocket.
The Hamas military wing also said an Israeli airstrike on a refuge camp killed a top Hamas commander.
US President Joe Biden arrived at Tel Aviv on Wednesday, where he was received by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.