Gaza hospital blast kills hundreds; Israelis, Palestinians trade blame

A massive blast at a Gaza hospital killed hundreds of people – with each side blaming the other for an event described by the Palestinian Authority’s health minister as a “massacre.”

Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli air strike for the huge blast and fireball which engulfed the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital, and said it killed as many as 500 people.

Israel, on the other hand, said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which denied blame. Israel said it had “evidence” that militants were responsible.

The event significantly affected an emergency diplomatic mission by the U.S. President Joe Biden, in which he was due to visit Israel and then attend a summit in the Jordanian capital Amman with the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. After the hospital strike, Jordan canceled that summit. 

Biden backed Israel’s account of the cause of the hospital blast. Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: “I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion of the hospital in Gaza yesterday, and based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.

“But there’s a lot of people out there not sure, so we’ve got a lot, we’ve got to overcome a lot of things,” Biden added. “The world is looking. Israel has a value set like the United States does, and other democracies, and they are looking to see what we are going to do.”

Netanyahu thanked Biden for Washington’s “unequivocal” support. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel had agreed to work with the United States on a plan to let aid into Gaza, which has been besieged and bombarded for 12 days. The bloodshed there has stoked already fierce anti-Israel protests in the region. 

The hospital blast brought reaction from global leaders. 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday he was “horrified” by the blast. While condemning the Hamas attacks on civilians which sparked the conflict, Gutters insisted “those attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of Palestinian people.”

Guterres has appealed to Hamas for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, and to Israel to allow immediate unrestricted access to humanitarian aid for the most basic needs of the people of Gaza. 

China’s foreign ministry echoed Guterres’ call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the fighting. “China is shocked and strongly condemns the heavy casualties caused by the attack on the Gaza hospital,” a ministry spokesperson said.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said there is “no excuse for hitting a hospital full of civilians” in Gaza but did not apportion blame for the blast.

UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly said that “cool heads must prevail” and that too many people jumped to conclusions.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was “deeply saddened” by the Gaza hospital strike, and said her government was waiting for final clarification on the dynamics of the shelling.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his country would reject the forced displacement of millions of Palestinians into Sinai, adding that any such move would turn the peninsula into a base for attacks against Israel.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz strongly condemned a firebomb assault on a synagogue in Berlin on Wednesday, saying: “We will never accept when attacks are carried out against Jewish institutions.”

Turkish protesters clashed with police overnight in angry demonstrations as Israel told its citizens to leave Turkiye immediately while Iran called for Islamic countries to sanction Israel.

A Jewish school complex in the center of Rome was evacuated on Wednesday after a bomb threat, police in the Italian capital said.

French top-flight football club Nice suspended their Algerian defender Youcef Atal for an alleged anti-Semitic post. He said: “I am aware that my publication shocked people, which was not my intention, and I apologize for that.”

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