Palestinians react on Wednesday at the site of al-Ahli hospital, the target of a deadly bombing on Tuesday evening. Hamas blamed the strike on Israel, while the latter claims to have proof that Islamic Jihad is responsible. (Credit: Mohammed Al-Masri/Reuters)
- US President Joe Biden, visiting Israel on Wednesday, supported the version of the Israeli authorities attributing the strike that killed hundreds of people in the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza to Palestinian fighters.
"I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at 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 who’re not sure. So we have to overcome a lot of things" Biden said while meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. "We must also keep in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and has only brought them suffering," he added.
-Hamas' Health Ministry stated on Tuesday that at least 200 people had been killed within the Ahli Arab hospital premises in Gaza city. Other estimates provide a higher toll. Hamas blamed the strike on Israel, and Islamic Jihad labeled the accusations from the Israeli state as "lies," pointing to them as the originators.
-Joe Biden was also scheduled to participate in a summit in Jordan with Jordanian King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, and the leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, but Amman canceled the meeting following the hospital attack.
-Numerous Arab countries, including signatories of diplomatic with Israel, unanimously attributed the deadly explosion in a Gaza hospital to the Israeli military, despite Israel's denial.
-The Israeli army, on its part, claimed on Wednesday to have "proof" of the responsibility of Islamic Jihad in the hospital's explosion. "The evidence, which we share with all of you, confirms that the explosion in a Gaza hospital was caused by the firing of a rocket by Islamic Jihad that failed," stated military spokesman Daniel Hagari during a press conference. "This professional analysis is based on intelligence, operational systems, and aerial images, all of which have been cross-referenced," he said. The army released maps and an audio they present as a conversation between two Hamas members discussing the responsibility of Islamic Jihad. "There were no army shots from the land, sea, or air that hit the hospital," Mr. Hagari asserted. "Our radar systems located the missiles fired by the terrorists from Gaza at the time of the explosion, and the trajectory analysis shows that the rockets were fired near the hospital."
-In response, Hamas accused Israel in a statement of "vainly trying to evade its responsibility in the hospital massacre by presenting a misleading version that has nothing to do with reality and which it attempts to promote with its propaganda." According to Hamas, "this horrendous massacre was perpetrated using American military arsenal, of which only the occupier [Israel] has."
-Hezbollah, in turn, called for a "day of rage" on Wednesday to condemn the "massacre," for which it blames Israel. At 2 p.m., a major demonstration was scheduled in the southern suburbs of Beirut, and later in front of the US embassy in Awkar. Gatherings took place in the morning in Sour and Akkar.
-Tensions are also high at the border with Lebanon, where daily exchanges of fire occur between the Israeli army and Hezbollah. The United States authorized on Tuesday the departure of its non-essential personnel from its embassy in Beirut. Many countries have advised their nationals against traveling to Lebanon.
-On Wednesday, hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks were still waiting in Rafah, on the Egyptian side of the border, to enter the Gaza Strip where hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinian displaced people are amassed. The situation in the territory "is becoming uncontrollable," warned the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
-Toll: Israeli strikes, which according to the UN have displaced a million people, have already killed more than 3,000 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, including hundreds of children, according to local authorities. Over 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since the start of the war, mostly civilians killed on the day of the attack by Hamas, which also abducted 199 people according to the Israeli army. Israel also announced having recovered the bodies of 1,500 Hamas fighters after their incursion. Intense negotiations involving several countries are underway to try to get the hostages released. According to Hamas, more than 20 of them have been killed in Israeli strikes.