There were protests against Israel in the Middle East and North Africa because Arab leaders are upset about an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City that killed many people.
Palestinian officials said that Israel caused the explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied this. The IDF claimed that Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants tried to launch a rocket, but it failed, and there was no damage to the structure, which means it was not an airstrike.
Islamic Jihad said that the Israeli accusations are not true and have no evidence. They also said that they do not use hospitals or other public buildings for their military activities.
Some countries in the Arab region, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, expressed their disapproval of Israel and blamed its military for bombing the hospital.
At the same time, many people in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, and Tunisia came together to protest against Israel. They were chanting slogans against Israel. Protests also happened in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The explosion at the hospital made people in the area very angry about the violence in Gaza. Gaza is a place near the coast with 2. 2 million people living there. It has been blocked by Israel for over a week as a punishment for a big attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7.
On Tuesday night, many people came together near the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan to protest. A group tried to go close to something, but a person who knows about security said that security forces stopped them and made them leave. According to two people involved in the protests and videos shared on social media, the security forces in Jordan also used tear gas to scatter the protesters.
In Lebanon, many protestors got together in a square near the US embassy in Beirut on Tuesday. They attempted to go past security barriers to enter the embassy. A CNN team was present to witness this event. By early Wednesday morning, the busy and disorderly situations became more peaceful, as reported by CNN’s Ben Wedeman. Before, the US State Department said on Tuesday that American citizens should not go to Lebanon.
Protesters in Baghdad, Iraq, also shouted slogans against Israel. Security officials in Baghdad have said that many people protesting tried to go across a bridge that goes to the Green Zone. The Green Zone is where the Iraqi government works and where many embassies, including the US embassy, are located. But the security forces stopped the protesters from crossing the bridge.
In Iran, people gathered at the French and British embassies in Tehran, the capital of the country. Protesters shouted angrily and said harmful things about France, England, America, and the Zionists, as shown in a video released by Iranian state-run RNA news on Wednesday. There were also gatherings in other cities like Esfahan and Qom.
According to the official TAP news agency, many people gathered in different parts of Tunis, Tunisia. TAP reported that there were large protests on Tuesday night in many places. The protests were a show of support for the Palestinian people and a way to oppose the bombing happening in Gaza by Israel.
In Istanbul, the police in Turkey sprayed water and used a liquid called pepper spray to break up a group of protesters who had entered a building where the Israeli consulate is.
On Tuesday, the President of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan, said on a social media platform called X that everyone in the world should do something to stop the very cruel actions happening in Gaza. He also mentioned that the recent attack on a hospital shows how Israel is attacking without any respect for human values.
The explosion caused Jordan to cancel a meeting on Wednesday. The meeting was going to be between US President Joe Biden and the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority is a group that has some control over the West Bank, but it is limited.
The Foreign Affairs Minister of Jordan, Ayman Safadi, wrote on X, “Why does Israel continue to attack Gaza, causing the death of innocent Palestinians. ”
Safadi wants peace and thinks that international law should apply to everyone, not just some people. He also believes that the world needs to speak up and take immediate action against this war.
While the IDF claims that it does not intentionally attack hospitals, the UN and Doctors Without Borders have reported that Israeli airstrikes have hit medical facilities, including hospitals and ambulances.
The hospitals were having a hard time taking care of the injured people because they didn’t have enough electricity and water.
The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which is in charge of the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital and provides money for it, expressed strong disapproval of the explosion, as mentioned in a statement from the church released on Tuesday.
The diocese said that Gaza does not have any safe places to hide and called the explosion a terrible crime against all people.
The text means that hospitals are supposed to be safe places according to international laws about helping people during times of conflict. However, this attack on the hospital has gone against those rules and is very wrong.
On Wednesday, the IDF showed pictures that they believe prove that the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital was not destroyed by an airstrike.
Date:
Outrage and protests sparked in Arab nations over Gaza hospital explosion
