Hundreds dead after rocket hits hospital in Gaza. Hamas accuses Israel of the attack, the Israelis blame Islamic Jihad

Tension in the Middle East is escalating after a rocket fell on a hospital in Gaza City. At least 500 people have died, say officials in the Gaza Strip, which blames Israel for the disaster. The Israeli military claims that the rocket was launched by Islamic Jihad, the second-largest terrorist organization in the Palestinian territory, and that it fell on the hospital by mistake.

Regardless of who fired the shots, the deaths of so many people threaten to throw the entire world into a spiral of violence. In the West Bank, in Ramallah, there were protests. Hezbollah, the terrorist group in Lebanon, has called for a day of rage for today, when Joe Biden arrives in Israel.

In a post on the Internet, Benjamin Netanyahu says that the only culprits are the Palestinian Islamists – “Those who brutally killed our children are killing their own children.”

“Everyone should know: It was the barbaric terrorists from Gaza who attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF,” Netanyahu said in a post published on X/Twitter. “Those who brutally kill our children are also killing their children,” added the Tel Aviv head of government.

WATCH: IDF releases more footage from the time of the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital, showing a failed launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad caused the blast, rather than an Israeli airstrike.

(CREDIT: @IDF) | Read more: https://t.co/BCMnQ3OQvt pic.twitter.com/fD7Qb5XKk7

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) October 18, 2023

Israeli army asks Gaza residents to head to the humanitarian zone in the Mawasi region

The Israeli army asked the residents of the Gaza Strip to leave for the humanitarian zone in the Mawasi region, where aid could be sent. A spokesman for the Israeli army, Lieutenant-Colonel Avichay Adraee, in a message published on Twitter, urged the residents of Gaza to go to the Mawasi region, where “international aid will be directed in case of need”. Mawasi is an area one kilometer wide and 14 kilometers long in the southern Gaza Strip along the coast.

“The Israeli army continues to urge residents of the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City to settle in the Al-Mawasi region, located south of the Gaza Valley, and announces that it recommends moving to open areas west of Khan Yunis, in the Al-Mawasi region,” is shown in the message. The Israeli military is issuing this new order after asking Gazans to leave for the south last week, days after Hamas terror attacks.

Joe Biden in Israel: Hamas “committed evil atrocities that make ISIS look like an almost rational actor”

Joe Biden said the United States mourns with Israel for the victims of the heinous attacks on October 7. The US president also said that Hamas “committed evil atrocities that make ISIS look like an almost rational actor”. “We must also remember that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people and has only brought them suffering. I am deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday. Based on what he saw, it looks like it was done by the other team, not by you. But there are a lot of people who are not sure, so we will have to act to overcome the moment,” the US president continued, saying that the US will give Israel everything it needs to defend itself and that the courage of the Israeli people is amazing. The two leaders did not take questions from journalists.

Abbas cancelled meeting with Biden after strike on hospital

While the President of the United States was still on his way to the Middle East, the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has canceled his meeting with him in Jordan tomorrow. The meeting in which, in addition to the two, the king of Jordan and the Egyptian president were to participate, was also cancelled.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the attack, calling the attack “an unforgivable crime” He declared three days of mourning.

However, in the West Bank, Palestinians clashed with their own security forces, throwing stones and chanting against Abbas, who many accuse of failing to protect them. There were also protests in Lebanon, Jordan, Libya and Iran.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the deadly Gaza hospital attack while speaking at China’s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday. Guterres said he was “horrified” by the hundreds of people killed after Tuesday night’s explosion and called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the region. “I am fully aware of the grievances of the Palestinian people after 56 years of occupation, but however serious they may be, they cannot justify the acts of terror against civilians committed by Hamas on October 7, which I immediately condemned. These attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” the UN chief said. Guterres also previously demanded the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, but also to allow humanitarian aid to enter the region. On Wednesday, he said these requests were not “bargaining coins” but “what is right to happen.” Guterres is due to go to Egypt this week, where he will meet the Egyptian president and discuss the complicated situation in the region.

Biden declared himself saddened by the “explosion” at the hospital in Gaza

President Joe Biden declared, on Tuesday, in an official statement, that he is “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion” in a hospital in Gaza City and “the terrible losses which resulted from it.” The US president, who says he spoke to Benjamin Netanyahu and King Abdullah II of Jordan “immediately after hearing the news”, says he has asked his advisers to “continue to gather information about what exactly happened “. The President of the United States, who boarded Air Force One bound for Israel on Tuesday evening, did not comment on the origin of the attack that caused the death of at least 200 people, in the context in which Hamas blames Israel, and the Israeli army Islamic Jihad.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked Israel to “stop targeting the surroundings of the Rafah crossing point” in the southern Gaza Strip to allow humanitarian aid to enter “as quickly as possible” in the Palestinian territory relentlessly bombed by Israel, reports AFP. Tons of aid have been stuck in Egypt’s Sinai desert for days, while the Rafah crossing is closed on the Palestinian side after four bombings this week. The United States says it is working on a deal, but the Israelis and Egyptians have not agreed on the security guarantees they are demanding in Rafah.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization denied responsibility for the attack on the hospital in Gaza, after which between 200 and 500 people lost their lives, according to statements made by Palestinian officials, Reuters reports. An Islamic Jihad spokesman denied involvement in the hospital bombing, minutes after the Israeli military released a statement saying Islamic Jihad had launched a barrage of rockets into Israel, which destroyed the hospital in Gaza.

Israel asks its citizens to leave Turkey after Erdogan accuses him of bombing Gaza hospital

Israel warned its citizens on Wednesday to leave Turkey “as soon as possible for their own safety”, in the context of comments made by the country’s president. Erdogan directly accused Israel of bombing the hospital in Gaza shortly after the tragedy. The announcement was made by the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, the French press writes. The consulate cited increasing “terrorist threats” to Israeli citizens abroad. “In light of the continued increase in terrorist threats against Israelis abroad (…) all Israelis staying in Turkey must leave as soon as possible,” the Israeli National Security Council also warned.

Demonstrations took place on Tuesday evening in front of the Israeli consulate in Istanbul and in front of the embassy in Ankara, after the explosion at a hospital in Gaza, which the Turkish president attributed to the state of Israel.