MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Hamas, Israel blame each other for killing 500 at Gaza hospital

According to Israeli media, the number of casualties “was not as high”

A missile hit a Christian health facility belonging to the Anglican Church in Gaza City Tuesday, killing at least 500, according to authorities in the Islamist-controlled Strip, after which the terrorist group Hamas and the government of Israel exchanged accusations as to who had fired the deadly rocket.

The attack on Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City comes on the eleventh day of the war between Israel and militias in the Strip, marked by heavy shelling on an area where thousands of civilians are sheltering in health centers, overflowing with wounded.

“The massacre at al-Ahli Arab Hospital is unprecedented in our history. While we have witnessed tragedies in wars and days gone by, what happened this afternoon is tantamount to genocide,” said Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense.

It was also the most deadly attack so far since the war between Palestinian militias in Gaza and Israel broke out on October 7, when more than 3,000 people were killed in Gaza and 1,400 in Israel.

According to local sources, in the health center, there were about 2,000 people who were sheltering from the bombing after evacuating their homes.

“The horrible massacre committed by the Zionist occupation” on the hospital, “which left hundreds of victims is a crime of genocide,” Hamas said in a statement. Most of the dead and wounded were “displaced families, patients, children, and women” who had been sheltering there in recent days.

“Hundreds of people are under the rubble” at the Al-Ahli hospital, the Gazan Health Ministry also said. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning after what he called the “hospital massacre.”

Mohamed Shtayeh, prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which controls parts of the West Bank, called the attack a “horrible crime in a genocidal war.” He also urged the UN Security Council to put an end to the fighting, “which has reached a bloody climax.” The official also held the United Nations “and the countries that support Israel responsible for the crime” because of “their silence”.

Israeli chief military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told local media that for the moment it is not known if it was an attack by Israeli fighter planes. ”There is a lot of (Israeli) shelling, a lot of failed rocket launches (by Palestinian militias), and a lot of fake news spread by Hamas,“ Hagari said.

Hours before departing for Israel, US President Joseph Biden ordered security teams to find out what happened. ”I am outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Arab Al Ahli hospital in Gaza and the terrible loss of life it caused,“ wrote Biden on X. ”I directed my national security team to continue to gather information on exactly what happened,“ he added.

”The United States unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict,“ he also stressed.

The detonation killed at least 500 people, including civilians, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised speech, blaming the United States for its support for Israel. ”The hospital massacre confirms the brutality of the enemy and the extent of its sense of defeat,“ he said, adding that the attack will be ”a new turning point.“

However, the Israeli government maintained that the explosion had nothing to do with an attack by Israel, but rather with a failure of an Islamic Jihad missile. ”Intelligence from multiple sources that we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch that hit the Gaza hospital,“ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X.

”The blast was initially claimed to have occurred at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital itself, but footage from Wednesday morning showed it appeared to have happened at the hospital’s parking lot, with none of the surrounding buildings sustaining significant damage,“ The Times of Israel reported.

”The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza initially said at least 500 people were killed, AP reported, a figure that was later amended to between 200 and 300, as reported by AFP,“ the TOI went on.

President Isaac Herzog called accusations that Israel had struck the hospital “a blood libel.” “An Islamic Jihad missile has killed many Palestinians at a Gazan hospital — a place where lives should be saved,” Herzog wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he was ”horrified by the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians“ and recalled that hospitals and medical personnel ”are protected by international humanitarian law” as are UN buildings.