KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip. A catastrophic explosion shook a Gaza City hospital, which was crowded with wounded Palestinians seeking refuge, claiming the lives of hundreds of people, as reported by the Hamas-run Health Ministry on Tuesday. Hamas attributed the incident to an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military insisted that the hospital was struck by a rocket misfired by Palestinian militants.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed that at least 500 individuals were killed in the blast. Video footage, authenticated by The Associated Press, depicted the hospital building engulfed in flames, with the hospital premises littered with the bodies of victims, including many young children. Nearby lay blankets, school backpacks, and personal belongings.
The incident sparked outrage across the region, occurring just one day before President Joe Biden’s scheduled visit to demonstrate support for Israel and endeavor to avert the expansion of the ongoing conflict. This tragedy unfolded amidst U.S. efforts to persuade Israel to allow the delivery of essential supplies to the beleaguered civilians, humanitarian groups, and hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip, which has been under complete siege since Hamas initiated a deadly incursion into southern Israel last week.
Hamas denounced the hospital blast on Tuesday as a “horrific massacre” and squarely placed the blame on an Israeli airstrike. Meanwhile, the Israeli military accused Islamic Jihad, a smaller, more radical Palestinian militant group with close ties to Hamas, of firing a rocket barrage near the hospital at the time, pointing to “intelligence from multiple sources” indicating their responsibility for the rocket that struck the hospital.
Hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge in al-Ahli Hospital and other medical facilities in Gaza City in recent days, hoping to escape bombardment after Israel issued an evacuation order for all residents of the city and surrounding areas to relocate to the southern Gaza Strip.
Ambulances and private cars transported approximately 350 casualties from the al-Ahli Hospital to Gaza City’s primary hospital, al-Shifa, which was already overwhelmed with victims from previous attacks. Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of al-Shifa Hospital, described the dire situation: “We are squeezing five beds into a single tiny room. We need equipment, we need medicine, we need beds, we need anesthesia, we need everything.” He also warned that the hospital’s generators would run out of fuel by the next day, potentially causing the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system.
Before the al-Alhi Hospital tragedy, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza had already claimed the lives of at least 2,778 individuals and injured 9,700, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with nearly two-thirds of the casualties being children. Another 1,200 people across Gaza were believed to be buried under rubble, either alive or deceased, according to health authorities.
The recent attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7th resulted in the deaths of over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and led to the capture of around 200 individuals who were taken into Gaza. Since then, Hamas militants in Gaza have launched daily rocket attacks targeting cities across Israel.
In response to the alleged airstrike, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas canceled his participation in a summit with President Biden, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and Egypt’s president, which had been scheduled for Wednesday in Amman, Jordan, to discuss the ongoing conflict. Jordan’s foreign minister subsequently announced the cancellation of the summit, citing the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas as a cause for concern.
As President Biden embarked on his trip to the Middle East, he faces the challenge of preventing the conflict from escalating into a broader regional conflict. On Tuesday, violence flared along Israel’s border with Lebanon, where Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants are active, and Israel has evacuated nearby towns. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht stated, “We are preparing for the next stages of war…Everybody’s talking about a ground offensive. It might be something different.”
Throughout the day on Tuesday, airstrikes claimed the lives of numerous civilians and at least one senior Hamas figure in the southern half of the Gaza Strip, the area where Israeli authorities advised fleeing Palestinians to relocate. An Associated Press reporter witnessed around 50 bodies being brought to Nasser Hospital following strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis.
In Deir al Balah, an airstrike reduced a house to rubble, resulting in the deaths of a man and 11 women and children inside, as well as casualties in a neighboring house. Witnesses reported no warning before the strike.
Israeli tank shelling struck a U.N. school in central Gaza where 4,000 Palestinians had sought refuge, leading to six fatalities and numerous injuries, according to the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency. At least 24 U.N. installations were hit in the past week, resulting in the deaths of at least 14 agency staff members. The Israeli military justified its actions by claiming to target Hamas hideouts, infrastructure, and command centers.
A series of strikes devastated the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, demolishing an entire block of homes and causing numerous casualties among the families residing there. Among those killed was Ayman Nofal, one of Hamas’ top military commanders, making him the highest-profile militant known to have been killed thus far in the conflict. Nofal had been responsible for coordinating Hamas militant activities in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu placed the blame on Hamas for Israel’s retaliatory attacks and the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza. He accused Hamas of “targeting and murdering civilians with unprecedented savagery” and “hiding behind civilians.”
In Gaza City, Israeli airstrikes also targeted the residence of Hamas’ top political official, Ismail Haniyeh, resulting in the deaths of at least 14 people. Haniyeh resides in Doha, Qatar, but his family lives in Gaza City. The Hamas media office had not yet identified the individuals killed in the strike.
Given Israel’s refusal to allow the entry of water, fuel, and food into Gaza since Hamas’ attack, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken secured an agreement with Prime Minister Netanyahu to explore the establishment of a mechanism for delivering aid to the territory’s 2.3 million inhabitants. U.S. officials emphasized the significance of this step, despite it appearing modest.
As of late Tuesday, however, no deal had been finalized. A senior Israeli official stated that his country was demanding assurances that Hamas militants would not seize aid deliveries, and entry of aid was also contingent on the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Over 1 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes, approximately half of Gaza’s population. Sixty percent of these displaced individuals now reside in the approximately 14-kilometer-long area south of the evacuation zone, as reported by the U.N. agency for Palestinians. Aid workers have warned that Gaza is on the verge of a complete collapse, with hospitals at risk of losing electricity and hundreds of thousands of people desperately seeking bread and water.
The U.N. agency also noted that over 400,000 displaced people are currently crowded into schools and other facilities in the south, with limited access to food and water. Israel opened a water supply line into the south for just three hours, benefiting only 14% of Gaza’s population, according to the U.N.
At the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s sole connection to Egypt, truckloads of aid were waiting to enter. The World Food Program revealed that it had more than 300 tons of food ready to be delivered to Gaza. Additionally, civilians with foreign citizenship, many of them Palestinians with dual nationalities, waited at Rafah, hoping to exit the conflict-stricken region.
