Airstrikes in Syrian City Aleppo Hit Al Quds Hospital, Kill 60 People, Including Doctors Without Borders Staff

A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported airstrike on April 27 in the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Soukour in the northern city of Aleppo. Karam Al-Masri/AFP/Getty Images

A series of airstrikes and shelling has left more than 60 people dead in less than 24 hours in the city of Aleppo in Syria on April 28.

At least 27 people died in a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the International Committee for the Red Cross. Buildings nearby were struck overnight in the rebel-controlled part of Aleppo.

An estimated 200 civilians have been killed in the past week in Syria, almost half of them around Aleppo. There has also been shelling in Damascus, along with a car bombing, which is rare in the capital of the country. The Red Cross said the fighting, including the airstrikes’ destruction of a key hospital in Aleppo, is putting millions at grave risk.

The hospital supported by MSF and Red Cross, located in the district of Sukkari, was hit shortly before midnight April 27, according to opposition activists and rescue workers. Six Al Quds Hospital staff and three children were killed. The facility has been one of the main medical centers in the city since Aleppo became divided in 2012.

Syrians evacuate a toddler from a destroyed building following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 28, 2016.
Ameer Alhalbi/AFP/Getty Images

The Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, a volunteer first-responders agency whose members responded to the scene of the attack, said 30 were killed there, including six hospital workers. The medical center was the area’s main pediatric care center.

Footage posted online by the White Helmets showed numerous dead bodies being pulled out of debris, including those of children, who were pulled out of a building and transported in ambulances as screams and cries filled the air. The video also shows distraught rescuers trying to keep bystanders away, fearing more airstrikes.

A man reacts after a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 28, 2016.
Ameer Alhalbi/AFP/Getty Images

A family walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 28, 2016.
Ameer Alhalbi/AFP/Getty Images

But the violence only grew. State media reports said at least 1,000 mortars and rockets were fired killing at least 14 civilians.

The chief Syrian opposition negotiator, Mohammed Alloush, condemned the government of President Bashar Assad for the violence and denounced the attacks as an attempt by the dictator’s regime to drive out the residents of Aleppo, labelling it “a crime of ethnic and sectarian cleansing.” He said the airstrikes were the latest “war crimes” of Assad’s government.

“Whoever carries out these massacres needs a war tribunal and a court of justice to be tried for his crimes. He does not need a negotiating table,” Alloush said, “Now, the environment is not conducive for any political action.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.