What we know so far about the deadly Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital | Israel-Palestine conflict News

No less than 500 people have been killed in an Israeli air assault on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital within the besieged Gaza Strip, Palestinian officers have mentioned.

The well being ministry in Gaza mentioned the blast on the hospital was attributable to an Israeli air raid. Israel has attributed the explosion to a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group. The PIJ has denied the allegation.

Al Jazeera was not in a position to independently confirm the accounts.

As tensions proceed to rise, here’s what we all know up to now concerning the strike:

Tons of killed

The well being ministry in Gaza says at the least 500 folks were killed within the blast, by far the very best dying toll of any single incident in Gaza throughout the present struggle between Israel and Hamas.

The ministry mentioned a whole bunch of different victims remained beneath the rubble.

Hamas mentioned the blast principally killed displaced folks.

The Palestinian Authority’s well being minister, Mai Alkaila, accused Israel of finishing up “a bloodbath”.

Situated in central Gaza, the hospital, which is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, was struck whereas it was overwhelmed with hundreds of Palestinians looking for shelter amid a marketing campaign of brutal Israeli air assaults throughout a lot of the besieged Gaza Strip.

How has the world reacted?

World leaders have denounced the bombing, with leaders from throughout the Center East issuing the firmest statements.

Protests have additionally erupted throughout the Center East, together with in Jordan and within the Israeli-occupied West Bank the place Palestinian protests have confronted the Palestinian Authority’s safety forces.

Jordan has cancelled a deliberate summit within the capital of Amman with United States President Joe Biden and Arab leaders.

Jordan’s Overseas Minister Ayman Safadi mentioned the assembly could be held at a time when all current might comply with work in direction of ending the “struggle and the massacres towards Palestinians”.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who had additionally been slated to attend the summit, mentioned he condemned “within the strongest attainable phrases Israel’s bombardment” of the Gaza hospital.

Saudi Arabia additionally issued a agency assertion, condemning “within the strongest attainable phrases the heinous crime dedicated by the Israeli occupation forces by bombing Al Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza”.

Western leaders didn’t blame Israel for the strike, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying in a social media submit that “nothing can justify a strike towards a hospital” and including that “all the sunshine have to be shed on the circumstances”.

Nothing can justify hanging a hospital.
Nothing can justify concentrating on civilians.

France condemns the assault on the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, which made so many Palestinian victims. Our ideas are with them. All the sunshine have to be shed on the circumstances.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 17, 2023

Biden in a press release provided “deepest condolences for the harmless lives misplaced within the hospital explosion in Gaza”.

What does Israel say?

Israeli authorities mentioned the hospital was hit by an errant rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which operates contained in the Gaza Strip.

“An evaluation of IDF [Israel’s army] operational techniques signifies {that a} barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in shut proximity to the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza on the time it was hit,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned in a social media submit.

“Intelligence from a number of sources we now have in our fingers signifies that Islamic Jihad is accountable for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza.”

Israeli navy spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari advised reporters rockets fired by the PIJ handed by the hospital on the time of the strike, which he mentioned hit the ability’s car parking zone.

Hagari claimed there was no direct hit on the ability and mentioned navy drone footage confirmed “a type of hit within the car parking zone”.

He mentioned the navy did have an Israeli Air Power operation within the space across the time of the hospital blast “however it was with a distinct type of ammunition that doesn’t … match the footage that we now have [of] the hospital.”

What does PIJ say?

The PIJ has rejected the Israeli allegation that it was accountable for the strike.

“The Zionist enemy is making an attempt exhausting to evade its accountability for the brutal bloodbath he dedicated by bombing the Baptist Arab Nationwide Hospital in Gaza via his common fabrication of lies, and thru pointing the finger of blame on the Islamic Jihad motion in Palestine,” it mentioned in a press release.

“We due to this fact affirm that the accusations put ahead by the enemy are false and baseless,” it added.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan famous that some observers have questioned Israel’s model of occasions, with some pointing to Israel’s historical past of falsely attributing acts carried out by its personal forces to armed Palestinian teams.

“We’ve seen this kind of factor earlier than from the Israelis,” Khan mentioned on Tuesday.

“Take for instance the killing of our colleague Shireen Abu Akleh. On the preliminary levels of that report, the Israelis blamed fighters inside Jenin camp for her dying. It was solely later that they admitted it was considered one of theirs.”