New Delhi: At least 500 were killed after a massive blast ripped through the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza Tuesday night, the Hamas-run health ministry said in a statement, adding that efforts are still underway to recover bodies from under the rubble.
Authorities in Gaza accused Israeli defence forces of having struck the hospital without any prior warning, while Israel alleged that the blast was the result of a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which, in turn, denied the claim.
“We were performing surgery at the Baptist hospital when a strong explosion occurred and the ceiling fell on the operating room…This is a massacre,” Ghassan Abu Sitta, a medical professional associated with Doctors Without Borders, said during a press conference Tuesday, according to an Anadolu correspondent.
With the situation on the ground still fluid, the blast at the Gaza city hospital spurred protests in parts of the Middle East, besides a diplomatic fallout as Jordan cancelled a planned summit with US President Joe Biden — who is en route Israel.
The summit was also to be attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
In the immediate aftermath of the hospital blast, the health ministry in Gaza alleged that Israel struck the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital as part of its counter-offensive against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in control of the Gaza Strip since 2006.
Responding to the charge, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to X to allege that it was the “barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening:
"The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF.
Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children."
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 17, 2023
The IDF later shared a video, claiming it to be footage recorded by the Israeli Air Force from the “area around the hospital before and after the failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation”.
A failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization hit the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City.
IAF footage from the area around the hospital before and after the failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization: pic.twitter.com/AvCAkQULAf
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 18, 2023
In another post, the office of the Israeli PM claimed an analysis by the IDF indicated that a “barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit”.
Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 17, 2023
Naor Gilon, Ambassador of Israel to India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan too alleged that the hospital in Gaza was hit by an “Islamic Jihad rocket”.
“This ability of the Palestinians to invade 30 Jewish communities, slaughter 1400+ Israelis, kidnap more than 200, shoot 7000+ rockets at Israeli civilians and still play the victim is amazing,” he added.
THE HOSPITAL IN GAZA WAS HIT BY AN ISLAMIC JIHAD ROCKET!!
This ability of the Palestinians to invade 30 Jewish communities, slaughter 1400+ Israelis, kidnap more than 200, shoot 7000+ rockets at Israeli civilians and still play the victim is amazing.
The ‘eagerness’ of some in… pic.twitter.com/X9oks2hptD— Naor Gilon (@NaorGilon) October 18, 2023
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, however, denied Israel’s claim that that the hospital blast in Gaza was the result of a “failed rocket launch”. Addressing reporters Wednesday, Mansour called Netanyahu a “liar” and reiterated the allegation made by the health ministry in Gaza that the blast was caused by an Israeli strike.
“He is a liar. His digital spokesperson tweeted that Israel did the hit thinking that there was a base for Hamas around this hospital, and then he deleted that tweet. We have a copy of that tweet…Now they changed the story to try to blame the Palestinians,” Mansour said.
He added that the spokesperson of the Israeli Army had made a statement calling for the evacuation of hospitals in the Gaza Strip. “Their intention is to evacuate or hospitals will be hit and they are responsible for that crime and they cannot fabricate stories to deal with it.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Sunni Islamist militant group Israel blamed for the blast, denied any responsibility. “The Zionist enemy is trying hard to evade its responsibility for the brutal massacre he committed by bombing the Baptist Arab National Hospital in Gaza through his usual fabrication of lies, and through pointing the finger of blame at the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine,” said a statement issued by the PIJ.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Morocco — three countries that have forged formal ties with Israel — have blamed Israel for the blast, while dismissing Israeli claims that the facility was hit by an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket. The UAE, Bahrain and Morocco were among the four signatories to the Abraham Accords with Israel brokered by the Trump administration in 2020. Saudi Arabia too was also quick to condemn the blast, calling it a “heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces”.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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