Deadly hospital strike blamed on both Israelis and Palestinians

Numerous deaths at Gaza’s oldest hospital have been blamed on both sides, but they both deny responsibility.

Israel claims that a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) malfunction was to blame for its alleged Tuesday strike on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. While Hamas contends that the US is ultimately to blame, PIJ has accused Israel of trying to hide their “massacre.”

At the facility, more than 600 people have already been reported dead, and 900 more have been injured. Along with patients, a large number of Palestinian civilians seeking safety from Israeli airstrikes were housed in the structure.

According to Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defence Force (IDF), “an enemy rocket barrage was carried towards Israel and struck the hospital as it passed through the area.”

Hagari continued, “According to intelligence data from a number of sources we have, the terrorist group Islamic Jihad is accountable for the botched shooting that struck the hospital.” Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, republished the IDF assertion.

“The entire world need to be aware that it was Gaza’s brutal terrorists, not the IDF, who assaulted the hospital. Later, Netanyahu remarked, “Those who ruthlessly murdered our children also slaughter their own children.

In response, a representative for PIJ referred to the Israeli assertions as “completely incorrect” and charged that the IDF was “trying to cover for the horrifying crime and massacre they committed against civilians.”

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An Israeli medic in Gaza labelled the attack a “massacre,” and a Red Crescent official in the West Bank called it “genocide” and “a war crime.”

Following the militant group’s entry on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,300 Israelis, Israel formally declared war on Hamas. The hospital strike, according to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, “confirms the enemy’s brutality and the extent of his feeling of defeat,” he told reporters on Tuesday evening, calling it “a new turning point” in the conflict.

Haniyeh further asserted that “the US holds the responsibility for the hospital attack because of the cover it gives to the Israeli aggression.”

Israel was accused for the hospital strike by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey; the World Health Organisation did not point fingers but urged Israel to reverse its “evacuation” order for Gaza. In order to discuss the event, Russia and the UAE have requested a special meeting of the UN Security Council.

The Church of England established the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in 1882, and the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem now oversees its operations. Because the Southern Baptist Church in the US ran it from 1954 to 1982, it is also known as the Baptist Hospital.