Key Points
- Hamas-run health authorities said an Israeli airstrike killed hundreds of Palestinians in a hospital.
- Israel has denied responsibility for the attack, blaming a failed rocket launch by a Palestinian militant group.
- The attack has drawn condemnation from world leaders.
Gaza authorities said an Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed about 500 people at a hospital in the Palestinian enclave, but Israel said a Palestinian barrage had caused the blast.
The death toll was by far the highest of any single incident in Gaza during the current violence, triggering protests in the occupied West Bank, Istanbul and Amman.
The Palestinian Authority’s health minister, Mai Alkaila, accused Israel of “a massacre” at Al-Ahli Arabi Hospital.
The strike killed hundreds of people and occurred during Israel’s intense 11-day bombing campaign in Gaza.
Israel blames Palestinian militant group for blast
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “barbaric terrorists” in Gaza had attacked the hospital, not Israel’s military.
Earlier a Gaza civil defence chief said 300 people were killed and a health ministry official said 500 were killed.
Hamas said the blast mostly killed displaced people.
Israeli Military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group passed by the hospital at the time of the strike, which he said hit the facility’s parking lot.
Another spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus, told CNN the military intercepted a conversation in which militants acknowledged a misfire.
He said the military would release a recording of the conversation.
Islamic Jihad denied that any of its rockets were involved in the hospital blast, saying it did not have any activity in or around Gaza City at that time.
Iran-backed Islamic Jihad took part in the Hamas-led assault on Israel on 7 October and, like Hamas, has fired numerous salvos of rockets into Israel.
News of the hospital strike and high death toll prompted condemnation from many countries on the eve of .
Russia and the United Arab Emirates demanded a UN Security Council meeting and clashes erupted in the West Bank.
Earlier on Tuesday the United Nations said an Israeli strike had hit one of its schools where at least 4,000 people were sheltering.
The agency said six people were killed and dozens injured by the strike. Israel’s military said it was looking into that report.
While briefing reporters, Hagari cast doubt on the Palestinian death count in the hospital strike and claimed there was no direct hit on the facility.
He said military drone footage showed “a kind of hit in the parking lot”.
He said the military did have an Israeli Air Force operation in the area around the time of the hospital blast, “but it was with a different kind of ammunition that does not … fit the footage that we have (of) the hospital.”
On the death count, Hagari said: “I don’t know how many people (were) hit here, even. Nobody can verify it yet.”
Biden said he was “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion” at the hospital and loss of life.
In a statement, he said he spoke with the leaders of Jordan and Israel and “directed my national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened.”
Biden to skip visit to Jordan, Palestinian president cancels meeting
Biden cancelled a planned stop in Jordan following his visit to Israel following news of the hospital strike.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas quickly cancelled a planned meeting with Biden, then Jordan’s King Abdullah cancelled a summit that was supposed to bring Biden together with Egyptian and Palestinian leaders.
Biden, who was supposed to touch down in Tel Aviv and Jordan during the one-day trip, will now only visit Israel, the White House announced as the president was en route to the airport for departure.
Palestinians evacuate the area following an Israeli airstrike on the Sousi mosque in Gaza City on 9 October. Source: Getty / Mahmud Hams/AFP
Thousands killed since Israel-Hamas conflict began
Israel hasthat controls Gaza after Hamas gunmen killed 1,300 people, mainly civilians,– the deadliest single day in Israel’s 75-year history.
Health authorities in Gaza say at least 3,000 people have been killed in Israel’s 11-day bombardment.
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, which has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.
Israel has , halting food, fuel and medical supplies, which are rapidly running out.
Displaced people fleeing the Israeli bombardment have flocked to hospitals, seeking refuge around them in hopes they will be safer.
, which is only 45km long and home to 2.3 million people, to leave their homes and go south.
However, the air strikes have pounded targets throughout the enclave and despite expectations of an Israeli ground offensive, some displaced people have started returning north.
The World Health Organization said the attack on the hospital was “unprecedented in its scale”.
It said earlier on Tuesday there had been 115 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza and the majority of its hospitals were not functioning.
Countries including Canada, Egypt, Türkiye, Jordan and Qatar condemned the strike on the hospital.
In the West Bank, where the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority operates, Palestinian protesters clashed with Palestinian security forces, who fired tear gas to disperse them.
