Outrage, condemnation over deadly Gaza hospital strike killing 500

FE Team | Published: October 19, 2023 00:23:32

A strike on a Gaza hospital compound which health officials there said killed at least 471 people, has provoked outrage and condemnation from around the world, with protests on the streets of Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, report agencies.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the territory, accused Israel of being behind the explosion. The Israeli army blamed it on a misfired rocket attack by Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, which has described the accusations as "lies".
Witnesses to the explosion at a Gaza City hospital tell a reporter at the scene that a huge blast ripped through a crowded area, sparking widespread panic.
Doctors at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital have described being overwhelmed by the number of injured and killed on Tuesday evening.
Israel was immediately blamed by Hamas but the Israel Defense Forces say the blast was caused by a misfired Palestinian militant rocket.
It said its evidence shows a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket, fired from a cemetery, landed in the hospital car park.
US President Joe Biden backed Israel's strong denial of involvement, saying the explosion "appears" to have been caused "by the other team" Biden is on a visit to the region meant to calm swirling tensions, but Arab leaders cancelled meetings with him after the blast.
Biden had initially planned to stop in Amman, Jordan after Tel Aviv to meet with three key leaders about humanitarian aid for Gaza. But that part of the trip was called off.
Biden said that Israel has agreed to allow aid into the impoverished Gaza Strip even as it wages a military campaign in response to Hamas attacks.
The 22 Arab countries at the United Nations joined in demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza following the devastating strike.