On the night of the 17th (local time), just before U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, a hospital in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, was attacked, killing hundreds of people. In a situation where the Palestinian armed group Hamas condemned “Israeli genocide,” and Israel countered that it was “the work of (another armed group) Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ),” President Biden arrived in Israel on the 18th and said, “( “It appears to have been the work of someone other than the Israeli military,” he said. With this hospital airstrike, there are concerns that the war in the Middle East could enter a more serious phase as a clear line is drawn between the United States and Israel versus Arab countries.
Palestinian residents injured in the bombing of Al-Hali Hospital in the Gaza Strip sob as they arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on the 17th (local time). It is reported that at least 500 people were killed in this attack. Hamas claims that this was the work of Israel, and Israel responds by saying that it was a mistake by Palestinians. 2023.10.18. Gaza City = AP/NewsisOn the 17th, the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health announced that more than 500 people, including patients and refugees, were killed in the rocket bombing of Al-Ahlia Arab Hospital in Gaza City that night. It was said that there were at least hundreds of people injured, and that a significant number of citizens were trapped under the rubble of the building. However, foreign media such as CNN reported that the exact cause of the explosion or the scale of casualties could not be confirmed.
Hamas defined this airstrike as an unprecedented genocide and declared retaliation, saying, “We can no longer remain silent.” The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah also said, “Let’s make tomorrow (the 18th) a day of anger against the enemy. “Go to the streets and squares immediately and express your fierce anger,” he urged the Muslim world in the Middle East.
On the other hand, Israel claimed that the bombing was due to the failure of PIJ, which has a harder anti-Israel stance than Hamas, to launch a rocket. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly claimed that PIJ was responsible, saying, “It was barbaric terrorists, not the Israeli army, that attacked the hospital.”
President Biden also supported Israel’s claims. In his opening remarks prior to the meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu on the 18th, he said, “I felt deep sadness and anger about the explosion.” He said, “From what I see, it looks like it was done by someone other than you (the Israeli side).”
The bodies of victims who died in the bombing of Al-Hali Hospital in the Gaza Strip lie in the yard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on the 17th (local time). It is reported that at least 500 people were killed in this bombing. Hamas claims that this was the work of Israel, and Israel responds by saying that it was a mistake by Palestinians. 2023.10.18. Gaza City = AP/NewsisIn the aftermath, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Egyptian President Abdulfattah Sisi, who were originally planning to meet with President Biden in Amman, the capital of Jordan, on this day to discuss a solution to the Middle East war, canceled the meeting. Anti-Israel and anti-American protests in the Middle East and North Africa are also spreading.
President Biden previously proposed a kind of ‘guideline’, saying that he supported Israel’s elimination of Hamas but opposed the occupation of the Gaza Strip, and then unusually quickly visited the battlefields of other countries and attempted to come up with a solution himself. However, due to a large-scale disaster and the cancellation of talks with the three neighboring Arab countries, not only did the situation go awry from the start, but there was a growing sense of crisis that the war in the Middle East could intensify.
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.