There were protests in the Middle East after a big explosion happened at a hospital in Gaza. People from Israel and Palestine blamed each other for the explosion. This happened not long before US President Joe Biden is expected to come to Tel Aviv.
The explosion on Tuesday caused many people to die at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. The hospital was filled with thousands of people trying to hide from Israeli attacks. The Palestinian Health Ministry made this announcement.
But the explosion marks a risky new stage in Israel’s conflict with Hamas, which has the potential to spread throughout the region. Israeli people are sad about the people who were killed in Hamas’ attacks on Israel. Families are asking for their loved ones who were taken as hostages to be returned. On the other hand, in Gaza, millions of innocent people are in danger of getting hurt, dying, or starving because important things they need are not being given to them. Also, they cannot leave because Israel is bombarding heavily.
Palestinian officials said that the deadly incident happened because of the ongoing Israeli airstrikes. Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral (rank in the navy) Israel’s armed forces’ (military’s) representative who gives information and statements to the public. Daniel Hagari said that the Israel Defense Forces did not attack the area when the explosion happened. He claims to have information suggesting that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group is responsible for the blast. This group is an enemy of Hamas, another militant group in Gaza.
Dris a shortened version of the word “doctor. ” Ashraf Al-Qudra, a person who speaks for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, talked about scenes that were shocking and impossible to describe after the explosion.
“According to Al-Qudra, ambulance crews are still taking out body parts because most of the victims are children and women. ” “Surgeries were being done by doctors on the floor and in the hallways, and some of them did not use anesthesia. ”
A video filmed by CNN inside the al-Shifa Hospital shows a lot of confusion. There are many injured people squeezed into the overcrowded hospital, doctors are treating the wounded on the hospital floor, and an emergency worker shouts as he carries a hurt child.
Pictures depict women crying and scared children covered in dark dust, huddled together on the hospital floor.
UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk expressed strong disapproval of the horrific hospital explosion, stating that hospitals are supposed to be safe and protected, and the acts of killing and violence need to cease.
I can’t find the right words to express myself. Tonight, a lot of people were brutally killed in a big attack. This includes sick people, healthcare workers, and families who were hiding in and near the hospital for safety. Once again, the people who are at the highest risk,” Turk said in a statement.
President Biden is on his way to Tel Aviv to visit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He expressed his strong shock and sadness about the explosion.
However, the aftermath of the explosion is putting at risk the US’s attempts to help alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza. There is growing worry about Israel’s actions, which involve preventing the population in the area from having access to food, fuel, and electricity.
Jordan decided to cancel a meeting that was supposed to happen on Wednesday with Biden, as well as the leaders of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided not to attend the meeting right after the explosion happened.
Biden was planning to go to Amman after visiting Tel Aviv, but a White House official said the trip was delayed.
“According to Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, it doesn’t make sense to do anything right now except for putting an end to this war. ” “There is no advantage for anyone in having a meeting right now. ”
The explosion has made people in the area even more mad about what Israel has been doing in Gaza.
The Israeli military has surrounded the area controlled by Hamas, a group of fighters, along the coast. This happened because Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th and killed around 1,400 people. They also took over 150 hostages, including children and old people.
Protests have broken out in many cities in the Middle East and North Africa, such as Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Tunisia, to show their anger and disapproval of the hospital explosion. Protests happened in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. People clashed with the Palestinian security forces.
In Amman, the capital of Jordan, people who were upset tried to come together close to the Israeli Embassy in the Rabieh neighborhood. However, the security forces forced them to leave the area. Two people who campaign for change told CNN on Tuesday that the police in Jordan used a type of gas called tear gas to make a large group of people leave or go away.
In Beirut, Lebanon, a large group of people gathered near the US Embassy on Tuesday. They tried to break through the security barriers, as reported by a team from CNN who was present at the scene.
Hamas reported that over 500 individuals lost their lives in the bombing. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that around 200 to 300 people died in the explosion, according to their initial estimates.
The hospital tragedy happened because the health services in Gaza are almost at a breaking point. They do not have enough fuel to power electricity or pump water for important life-saving functions. International organizations have raised concerns that stores will have no more food in less than a week, and the only seawater desalination plant in Gaza has stopped working. This poses a serious danger of more deaths, dehydration, and waterborne diseases.
Although the IDF claims that it does not intentionally attack hospitals, the UN and Doctors Without Borders have reported that Israeli airstrikes have damaged medical facilities, such as hospitals and ambulances.
Israel says it did not bomb the hospital.
The IDF showed pictures on Wednesday that they say prove the hospital was not damaged by an airstrike.
In a short video, the IDF said that a fire started at the hospital because a rocket launched by Islamic Jihad did not work properly. The pictures showed that some cars in the hospital parking lot were badly destroyed by fire. The Israeli military said they did not see any holes or major damage to buildings that would happen after a bombing.
The IDF spokesperson,Lieutenant(Lt. )[person’s name], is a military official who communicates information to the public. Colis short for Colonel, which is a high-ranking military officer. Jonathan Conricus,speaking to CNN on Wednesday, said that the initial information strongly suggests that the Israeli bomb was not responsible.
Islamic Jihad has said that Israel’s claim about a rocket launch causing many people to get hurt at the hospital is not true.
The group said that the accusations made by Israel are not true and without evidence. They also said that they do not use places like hospitals for military purposes.
Understatements is reviewing information shared by Israel about the explosion. This includes various types of data, like intercepted communications and intelligence from signals.
Many countries have criticized Israel after the explosion. Pakistan described it as cruel and unjustifiable,while the Palestinian observer at the UN, Riyad Man sour,accused Israeli officials of being dishonest by blaming Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The United Nations Security Council will have a meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss what is happening in the Middle East. They will talk about the bombing of a hospital and representatives from both Israel and Palestine will give speeches.
Israeli airstrikes for more than a week have led to the death of at least 3,000 individuals in Gaza, including 1,032 girls and 940 boys. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that around 12,500 people have also been injured. In the past 10 days,more people have been injured or killed in Gaza than during the conflict between Gaza and Israel in 2014, which lasted for 51 days.
The situation is very bad for the 2. 2 million people who are stuck in Gaza. They are experiencing a worsening crisis and are not safe from Israeli airstrikes. The humanitarian situation is also getting worse.
More and more people are asking for help and diplomatic attempts to create a safe way for people to leave Gaza have increased in the past few days.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has been working hard in the Middle East. He announced on Tuesday that the US and Israel have agreed to create a plan to deliver help to the people in Gaza. This help will come from nations and organizations that want to provide aid.
However, the officials have warned that the Rafah border crossing, which is the only way for people to enter or leave Gaza without Israel’s control, is stillvery risky.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, said on CNN that there is a long line of humanitarian aid waiting to enter Gaza on the Egyptian side of the crossing.
“Sofar, there is no safe way for the convoys to enter without approval or clear routes. This means they are at risk of being targeted. “
He said that the crossing was attacked with bombs four times recently.