At least 500 people were killed in an airstrike that hit a hospital in Gaza, according to its health ministry, with Hamas quickly accusing Israel of carrying out the strike, while Israel’s military pointed the finger at Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The attack on Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City will “forever remain a stain on the conscience of humanity that has been witnessing the horrors committed against the Palestinian people without taking action to stop it,” the Palestinian Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement. “Every rule of international law is being shredded as thousands are mercilessly massacred and millions of people are being stripped of their humanity, subjected to wanton killing, starvation and forced transfer, with no end in sight as Israeli occupying forces … continue to pound the Gaza Strip, with thousands of missiles and bombs targeting civilian areas by air, land and sea and threats to commit mass murders.”
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“From the analysis of the operational systems of the IDF, an enemy rocket barrage was carried out towards Israel, which passed in the vicinity of the hospital, when it was hit,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces. “According to intelligence information, from several sources we have, the [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] organization is responsible for the failed shooting that hit the hospital.”
President Joe Biden said on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, that he was “outraged and deeply saddened” by the strike, and he acknowledged that he “directed my national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened.”
Despite Israel’s strong pushback, and identifying PIJ as the culprit, Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), both members of the progressive “Squad,” were quick to accuse Israel of war crimes, blame President Joe Biden, and call for a ceasefire.
Tlaib, who is of Palestinian heritage and has a Palestinian flag flying outside her office, wrote on social media, “Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that. this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help de-escalate. @POTUS Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslims Americans like me. We will remember where you stood.”
Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that. @POTUS this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help de-escalate.
Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many… https://t.co/mZYoifT7bj
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) October 17, 2023
On the same platform, Omar described the bombing of a hospital as the “gravest of war crimes.”
Bombing a hospital is among the gravest of war crimes. The IDF reportedly blowing up one of the few places the injured and wounded can seek medical treatment and shelter during a war is horrific.@POTUS needs to push for an immediate ceasefire to end this slaughter. https://t.co/dPJ48dyDe8
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 17, 2023
Neither Democrat retracted the statements despite contradictory reports about who was behind the strike.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which operates in Gaza and reportedly participated in the terrorist attack in Israel on Saturday, Oct. 7, is a “wholly-owned subsidiary of Tehran,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace senior fellow Aaron David Miller, a former State Department historian who has coordinated previous rounds of Arab-Israeli negotiations, said in a discussion of the terrorist attacks last week.
Israel has launched thousands of airstrikes into Gaza in the 10 days since the unprecedented terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,400 people. Top Israeli leaders have warned they intend to eradicate Hamas, the primary terrorist organization within Gaza, while at least 3,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the Israeli strikes, many of whom were innocent civilians. Israel ordered 1.1 million Gaza civilians in the northern part of the enclave to travel south ahead of the offensive, while there are reports of Hamas preventing people from going south and Israeli strikes causing deaths and injuries among those evacuating.
Hamas, which was the primary perpetrator of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Israel’s history, hides among civilian populations, making Israel’s attempts to stop it much harder. Hamas also hides its military equipment in highly populated civilian areas for the same reason.
It’s unclear whether Hamas was using this hospital for any nefarious purposes.
“We certainly expect Israel, as with any ally or partner, to uphold the law of war,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Tuesday. “It should be very clear that Hamas is the one putting Palestinians or those in Gaza at a great risk. I mean, they are putting their command and control units inside hospitals inside areas where there are innocent civilians. So the fact that they’ve set up command centers at these hospitals just shows the brutality that they’re willing to engage on — that they’re willing to use civilians as a way to mask their operations but also to see them as casualties.”
Singh could not provide any details about the specific strike but was referring to prior Hamas behavior.
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The strike on the hospital elicited immediate reactions, condemnations, and protests. President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, reportedly canceled his planned meeting with President Joe Biden, who will be in Israel and Jordan on Wednesday for a last-minute trip to the Middle East.
There were also protests that broke out outside the Israeli Embassy in Amman, Jordan.
