Hundreds Killed in Gaza Hospital Blast

Facts

• A massive blast rocked a Gaza City hospital, reportedly killing at least 500 people, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Hamas blamed Israel for the attack, while Israel maintains it has intelligence — including intercepted communications — that proves Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group with links to Hamas, fired rockets near the hospital.¹
• Israel has launched an extensive bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip and placed the region under total blockade since an attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, raising humanitarian concerns from a range of countries, including the US, as well as international organizations. The already overcrowded Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, the site of the strike, was reportedly sheltering thousands of people displaced from their homes after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told more than a million residents to leave northern Gaza and move south.²
• Coming a day before US Pres. Joe Biden traveled to Israel on Wednesday, the bombing ignited anger in Arab countries and prompted a series of protests in cities across the Middle East — including at the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. A summit between Biden and the leaders of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority (PA), set to take place in Jordan, has also been canceled. Withdrawing from the meetings, PA Pres. Mahmoud Abbas described the hospital attack as a 'hideous war massacre.'³
• In video footage which the Associated Press confirmed to be from the Al-Ahli hospital, the outlet reported that fire had engulfed the building and that the hospital grounds were strewn with bodies, many of them young children.¹
• Following the blast in Gaza, Lebanon's Hezbollah called for a 'day of unprecedented anger' against Israel to take place Wednesday, urging the Arab and Islamic world to unite to rebuke Biden's planned visit to Israel amid the conflict and put pressure on governments and international organizations.⁴

Sources: ¹Associated Press, ²CNN, ³Al Jazeera and ⁴The Messenger.

Narratives

• Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Middle East Eye. Israel has outrageously and unacceptably targeted a hospital where displaced civilians sought shelter and many patients were receiving treatment, carrying out a massacre and showing its lack of respect for the most basic human values. The international community must push for de-escalation and cease-fire to bring this bloodshed to an end.
• Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by The Jerusalem Post. Israel has nothing to do with this blast — the Gaza hospital was hit by a Palestinian Jihad Islamic errant rocket as proven by intelligence that Tel Aviv has made public. Despite allegations made by Hamas and other countries, there is plenty of evidence that Hamas is to blame not only for the murder of Israelis but also for the killing of their own people.

Predictions