The new attack is the fourth such strike on a Tripoli medical facility over the past month, according to local authorities.

Forces loyal to eastern-based Libyan General Khalifa Haftar attacked Sunday medical warehouses belonging to the Al-Khadra Hospital in the capital Tripoli for the third time in less than a week, according to the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

A barrage of Grad rockets hit medical depots from the Al-Khadra General hospital, where over 300 patients were being treated, including two for COVID-19 and many for shrapnel wounds and burns from bombs.

The new attack is the fourth such strike on a Tripoli medical facility over the past month, according to local authorities. On March 6 and 7, shells also struck the grounds of the same hospital located in an area held by the internationally recognized government near a front line, injuring at least six health workers.

The United Nations condemned the shelling, calling it a "clear violation of international law" as eastern forces continue their final push to take over the Libyan capital amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This is a clear violation of international humanitarian law ... It is unacceptable at a time when healthcare and health workers are vital in our fight against a global pandemic," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

"A deplorable strike like this, resulting in senseless damage of a most needed medical facility, cannot be justified," the official added.

As the situation worsens in the war-torn nation, the Great Man-Made River company, a pipe network supplying groundwater from the Sahara, said last week that an armed group had stormed its pumping station and cut off water supplies to most western Libya.

Health experts worry the lack of water would be detrimental in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Libya has confirmed 25 cases of the virus, all in the country’s west except for one in the eastern city of Benghazi.

From 2014 and on, Libya has had two political power centers, the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, that is having a hard time governing the capital city and some western areas, and another government in Tobruk, an eastern city which has remained under Haftar's control.

The North-African nation which has major oil reserves had been under foreign rule for centuries and gained independence in 1951. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi seized power in 1969 and ruled the country for four decades until he was ousted in 2011 by Western military intervention.