Palestinian and Israeli militants blame each other for a rocket that hit a hospital in Gaza City. Where the rocket came from is controversial. The impact apparently endangers the ongoing diplomatic efforts.
Hundreds of people are said to have been killed and injured after a rocket hit a hospital in the Gaza Strip. The clinic appears to be the only Christian hospital in the Gaza Strip, the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. The health authority, controlled by the militant Islamist Hamas, blamed the Israeli army for this.
However, Israel’s military clearly denied responsibility for this. “The hospital was hit by a failed rocket from the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad,” the army said overnight. The Israeli government called it an act of terrorism.
Israel wants proof publish
The military had previously said that everything “pointed to” that the militant Palestinian organization was responsible. An additional review of the operational and intelligence systems has now shown that “the Israeli military did not hit the hospital in Gaza.” Military spokesman Daniel Hagari announced that he would make evidence of the assumption public.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of the Islamist Hamas, said that “several hundred” people were killed and injured in an Israeli airstrike on the clinic. The ministry did not give an exact number. The information cannot be independently verified.
Arab states blame Israel for attack
Several Arab states blamed Israel for the attack. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for three days of national mourning and spoke of genocide. Palestinian flags should be flown at half-mast, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the “heinous crime.” Riyadh condemns the “continued attacks by the Israeli occupation” on civilians. The Arab League called on the West to stop the war.
Countries such as Iran, Jordan and Turkey also publicly blamed Israel for the explosion. The shelling of a hospital housing women, children and innocent civilians is the latest example of Israeli attacks that are devoid of the most basic human values, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on X.
Protests in Muslim world after hospital attack
Spontaneous protests broke out in several predominantly Muslim countries. In Amman, demonstrators tried to get to the Israeli embassy, the Jordanian news agency Petra reported. Numerous demonstrators gathered in front of the Israeli consulate in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul on Tuesday evening. In the southern suburbs of Beirut, eyewitnesses said hundreds of Hezbollah supporters poured into the streets and called for Tel Aviv to be bombed. In Iran, a crowd in Tehran’s city center chanted “Down with Israel,” videos from the state news agency IRNA showed.
In Tunisia’s capital Tunis, hundreds protested after the incident in front of the French embassy, the state agency TAP reported. According to eyewitnesses, hundreds also gathered in the center of the city in Baghdad, Iraq. In the southern suburbs of Beirut, eyewitnesses said hundreds of Hezbollah supporters poured into the streets and called for Tel Aviv to be bombed. In Beirut, police used tear gas against demonstrators near the US Embassy, according to witnesses.
Setback to ongoing diplomatic efforts
The air raid caused horror around the world. It also appears to be a setback for the diplomatic efforts currently underway. Jordan canceled a meeting scheduled for today between King Abdullah II and US President Joe Biden. The meeting, which Egypt’s head of state Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was also scheduled to take part in, would only take place if there was an agreement to end the war and stop “these massacres,” Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi told the Jordanian TV channel Al -Mamlaka.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned the attack. “We demand the immediate protection of civilians and health care as well as a withdrawal of the evacuation order,” said Ghebreyesus on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
Complete clarification required
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called for a complete investigation. “Those responsible must be held accountable,” he said hours after the tragedy late Tuesday evening in Geneva. He called on states with influence in the region to do everything in their power to bring the terrible events there to an end. The Austrian said he had no words for the tragedy.
“This is completely unacceptable. Hospitals are untouchable and they must be protected at all costs.” Civilians must also be safe from acts of war at all times and they must urgently be provided with humanitarian aid. “We don’t yet know the full extent of the carnage, but it is clear that the violence and murder must stop immediately,” said Türk.
Macron: “Nothing can justify attack on hospital”
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the rocket strike. “Nothing can justify an attack on a hospital,” he wrote that night on the X platform (formerly Twitter). “Nothing can justify targeting civilians.” The circumstances must be fully clarified. His thoughts are with the victims. He did not make any specific accusations of guilt. In another tweet, he called for humanitarian access to the people of Gaza to be reopened immediately.
The Foreign Office also commented. “We are deeply shocked by the reports of hundreds of deaths at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. Civilian targets, especially a fully functioning hospital with patients and medical staff, must not be attacked under any circumstances. Civilians must be protected in conflict,” writes the Foreign Ministry on its English-language X account, formerly Twitter.
US President Joe Biden expressed his condolences to the victims. “The President expressed his deepest condolences to the innocent victims of the explosion in a hospital in Gaza and wished the injured a speedy recovery,” said a spokesman for the US Presidential Office.