A picture taken from the southern Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip on October 15, 2023, shows smoke billowing after Israeli bombardment of an area in the Palestinian enclave. In the eight days since Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,300 Israelis in a surprise attack, Israel has responded with a bombing campaign that has claimed over 2,300 lives in Gaza.
On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed hundreds of people at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. Israel denied the strike and said it was a Palestinian bombardment.
Due to the hospital strike, the death toll was declared the highest in Gaza and caused protests on the West Bank in Istanbul and Amman.
Hundreds of Civilians Killed in Gaza Hospital Strike
The hospital strike occurred during Israel's intense 11-day bombing campaign in Gaza. Palestinian authority's health minister, Mai Alkaila, accused Israel of the massacre at Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cleared "barbaric terrorists" in Gaza had attacked the hospital and not Israel's military. Gaza civil defense chief said 300 people were killed in the first few hours. Later on, health ministry sources placed the figure at 500.
On Wednesday, the health ministry spokesman, Ashraf Al-Qudra, reported that they are still removing the bodies from the debris. Israeli Military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed to the reporters that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group fired the rockets.
The group passed by the hospital at the time of the strike and the hospital's parking lot was damaged. According to CNN, Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the military blocked a conversation in which militants recognized a misfire. He said the military would release a recording of the conversation.
Islamic Jihad continuously denied that their rockets were involved in the hospital strike. However, on October 17, Iran-backed Islamic Jihad was involved in the Hamas attack on Israel and fired numerous salvoes of rockets.
During the visit of US President Joe Biden, the news of the hospital strike and high death toll urged disapproval from many countries. Russia and the United Arab Emirates called a UN Security Council meeting as the conflict flared up in the West Bank.
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Airstrikes Create Riot in Israeli Towns
The health authorities in Gaza have confirmed at least 3,000 people had been killed in Israel's 11 days of bombing. More than 1,000 were soldiers and civilians. The Israeli bombardment caused the people to stay in hospitals, hoping they would be safe.
Biden said he was "outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion."
He called for his national security team and told them to gather further information about the bombing. According to Reuters, Israel instructed 2.3 million people living in the northern half of the Gaza Strip to leave their homes and go south.
But displaced people returned to the north as the air strikes bombed targets throughout the enclave. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization reported that there had been 115 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza, and most of its hospitals were not operating.
Since the Hamas attack, Israel has cut off all power, water, food, fuel, and medicine supplies in Gaza. The bombing also intensified the blockade of the enclave.
