On the evening of October 17, Hamas claimed that Israel had struck a hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring a large number of people. Israel denies any involvement and claims that the rocket was launched from the Palestinian side.
The Israeli army reported that at 19:00 local time, Islamic Jihad militants fired rockets toward Israel, and one of them fell over the city, causing an explosion in the Al-Ahali hospital.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly denied reports of Israeli involvement in the explosion.
Later it became known that the death toll from the missile strike reached 800 people. A spokesman for the Palestinian enclave's Ministry of Health said that all the dead were civilians. According to him, the Israeli army struck the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced three days of mourning for the victims.
Several other countries accused Israel of the strike: the president of Egypt, the king of Jordan, the president of Syria, the president of Cuba, the government of Iraq, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, and the president of Iran (who also accused the United States).
"The flames of the American-Israeli bombs dropped tonight on innocent Palestinians being treated for injuries in a Gaza hospital will soon consume the Zionists. The silence of a free man is unacceptable in the face of such a war crime," Iranian President Raisi said. Tel Aviv was also condemned by the head of the African Union Commission.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia and Turkey criticized Israel.
The EU leadership, as well as the foreign ministries of France, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Japan, also condemned the attack without naming the perpetrators.
UN Secretary-General Guterres also refrained from making specific accusations. During his visit to China, he said that Hamas' attacks on Israel "cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."
As a result, the planned summit in Jordan with the participation of the leaders of the United States, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine, intended to discuss the political situation in the Gaza Strip after the alleged Israeli army ground operation, was canceled.
As for the US position, Biden plans to ask Prime Minister Netanyahu some "tough questions" about Jerusalem's strategy in the Gaza war during his visit to Israel today. This was announced by White House spokesman John Kirby on board Air Force One with the president on the way to Tel Aviv (Biden's arrival in Israel is expected at about 10 a.m. local time, which coincides with Ukrainian time).
Similarly, Israel's National Security Council has warned its citizens against traveling to Turkey and Morocco, citing fears that they will be targeted by those who are dissatisfied with the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel claims that the Al Jazeera video captured the moment when a Palestinian rocket misfired and hit a hospital.
Mass protests over the shelling of the hospital in the Gaza Strip began in Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Lebanon and Germany.
The Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon announced a "day of rage" against Israel on Wednesday after the rocket attack on a hospital in Gaza. A representative of the group called on the population of all Arab and Muslim countries to participate in the protests.
"Wednesday will be a day of unprecedented anger against the enemy and its crimes, as well as against US President Joe Biden's visit to the Zionist state of Israel, which aims to cover up and protect this criminal entity," the statement said.
