Protests erupted across the Middle East on Tuesday night following a deadly explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, with Israeli and Palestinian authorities blaming one another for the attack. The alleged bombing coincided with a diplomatic visit from United States President Joe Biden, during which he defended Israel from the accusations and reaffirmed America’s support for its longtime ally.
“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,” Biden said during a Wednesday press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “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.”
NOW – Biden on Gaza hospital blast: "Based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team."pic.twitter.com/T9MdPRGpDe
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) October 18, 2023
Biden’s comments reaffirmed a statement released by the Israel Defense Force on Tuesday night attributing the explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital to a malfunctioning rocket launched towards Israel by either Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad within Gaza itself.
Video verified by the Wall Street Journal captured the moment of the explosion but provided few details about the context under which the blast occurred.
In the aftermath of the explosion, the Gaza Health Ministry claimed that 471 people had been killed and another 300 wounded by the blast. These casualties have not yet been independently verified by external sources.
After an analysis, the IDF reported that “a barrage of rockets was launched toward Israel, which passed in the vicinity of the hospital, when it was hit.” Authorities attributed the tragedy to a failed rocket launch—a common occurrence given the proximity of missile launch sites to civilian areas in Gaza.
Following an analysis by the IDF's operational systems, a barrage of rockets was launched toward Israel, which passed in the vicinity of the hospital, when it was hit.
According to intelligence information from a number of sources we have, Islamic Jihad terrorist organization is… pic.twitter.com/QZsanPaFEc
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 17, 2023
Prime Minister Netanyahu echoed the IDF’s analysis, stating “The barbarian terrorists in Gaza are the ones who attacked the hospital in Gaza, not the IDF.”
שכל העולם ידע:
המחבלים הברברים בעזה הם אלה שתקפו את בית החולים בעזה, ולא צה״ל. מי שרצח באכזריות את ילדינו, רוצח גם את ילדיו.
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 17, 2023
Additional video footage that has not yet been verified purportedly shows the missile barrage launching near the hospital seconds before the explosion. This is further backed up by claims that Hamas-linked Telegram accounts posted about a “robust” weapons launch directed at Haifa one minute before the hospital was hit.
Hamas, along with the Palestinian Authority, other Arab nations, and nongovernmental groups including Doctors Without Borders, have attributed the explosion to an Israeli airstrike. Some have also cited a now-deleted X post by Israeli influencer and IDF Digital Spokesman Hananya Naftali directly attributing the bombing to an air force strike against a terrorist base inside the hospital. Naftali called it “heartbreaking” that Hamas uses civilians as “human shields” during its attacks.
The dispute over the bombing is further confounded by video allegedly taken outside the hospital on Wednesday, showing the building fully intact with damage only done to a nearby parking lot. While the damage to the area is extensive, the location and size of the blast have called the ultimate death toll into question.
But while questions continue to swirl, the destruction has proved to be a diplomatic nightmare for President Biden, leading to canceled meetings with Arab leaders and complicating efforts to rescue American hostages. Biden was initially scheduled to have a meeting with leaders from Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority in the Jordanian capital of Amman, but that sit down has now been “postponed.”
Protests also erupted in countries across the Middle East and North Africa, including Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Tunisia, leading to assaults on Israeli and American embassies in multiple locations.
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