Initially, reports indicated a death toll of 200, with some sources suggesting as many as 500 fatalities, while others claimed up to 900 casualties. The hospital had been utilized as a shelter for seeking safety from the bombings.
Israeli air strikes on a hospital compound in the Gaza Strip killed at least 200 people, officials in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory said on Tuesday, on the eve of US President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East.
Biden’s visit, potentially the riskiest of his presidency, is expected to see him reaffirm US backing for Israel and try to stop the escalating war against Hamas spiraling into wider conflict.
The health ministry on Tuesday said between 200 and 300 people displaced by 10 days of heavy bombardment were killed in “occupation (Israeli) strikes” at the Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza.
“Hundreds of victims are still under the rubble,” a statement said, calling it a “war crime”.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a televised press briefing: “We will look into it… the strike happened just a short while ago.”
The IDF later attributed the hospital bombing to a failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad.
The health ministry in Gaza said hospitals were at breaking point, with more than 30,000 people taking shelter at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City alone.
Rafah’s closure has so far prevented the escape of thousands of Palestinian-Americans and others hoping to get out of Gaza, or the entry of relief goods now loaded on truck convoys waiting in Egypt.
Reactions
Russia has called for an urgent public meeting of the United Nations Security Council in the morning of October 18, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanski, said on Telegram.
The West’s Reactions
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, pressed about Israeli strike on hospital, says news coming out of Gaza is devastating; ‘it’s horrible, unacceptable’.
Arab States’ Reactions
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday declared three days of mourning after a “hospital massacre” in Gaza, a strike that Hamas officials blamed on Israel and say killed at least 200 people.
Abbas announced “public mourning for three days and flags flown at half-mast for the martyrs of the Baptist hospital massacre and all our people’s martyrs”, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
A senior Palestinian official says President Mahmoud Abbas has canceled his participation in a meeting scheduled Wednesday with President Joe Biden and other Mideast leaders.
Palestinian forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank clashed on Tuesday with protesters opposed to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.
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Dozens of protesters attempted to storm the Israeli embassy compound in Amman, Jordan, according to a journalist.
The angry protesters got through a security forces barrier and advanced towards the embassy, but security forces fired tear gas to disperse them, the correspondent said.
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In Tunisia, hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside the French embassy, also denouncing the US.
Egypt denounced “in strongest terms” an Israeli air strike on a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds of Palestinians, saying the international community must urgently intervene to stop such violations, according to a foreign ministry statement released late on Tuesday.
Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Abul Gheit condemned the attack, stating “What kind of mind from hell intentionally bombs a hospital filled with innocent patients?”, asserting that the “West must stop the tragedy in Gaza”.
Turkish President Reccep Tayip Erdogan called for a stop to ‘unprecedented brutality in Gaza’.
Qatar’s foreign ministry condemned the strike calling the attack a “a brutal massacre” and “a heinous crime against defenceless civilians”.
In a statement the Gulf state called the attack on Ahli Arab Hospital a “blatant violation of the provisions of international law” and a “dangerous escalation in the course of the confrontations”.
The Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry condemned the strike on a Gaza hospital in which 500 were reportedly killed, calling it a “despicable Israeli crime.”
The United Arab Emirates also issued a condemnation, calling on Israel “to respect humanitarian law”, and called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting
Multilateral Organizations’ Reactions
The World Health Organization “strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in north Gaza,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
EU chief Charles Michel said Tuesday that targeting civilian infrastructure in Gaza breaks international law after a deadly strike on a hospital.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said, strike was “totally unacceptable”, insisting that the perpetrators must be held to account.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
