After Israel bombed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, also known as the Baptist Hospital, Arab and international condemnations followed after the killing of more than 500 people, while Israel denied the strike and attributed it to Islamic Jihad, Jordan canceled the four-way summit that was scheduled for Wednesday, 18/10/2023 in Amman with the participation of US President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in addition to Jordanian King Abdullah II, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning .

 

Edited by| Paul Mitchel

 

Politic section -  CJ journalist

Gaza conflict news section  

 

Gaza Strip - October,18,2023

 

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Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the embassies of France and the United Kingdom in Tehran on Tuesday night to protest against the bombing of a hospital in Gaza that killed more than 500 people.

Jordan's King Abdullah II warned Tuesday that the war between Israel and Hamas "has entered a dangerous phase that will drag the region into an ominous catastrophe".

A statement issued by the royal court said that King Abdullah "warned that this war, which has entered a dangerous stage, will drag the region into an ominous catastrophe, and the international community should put an end to the bloodshed, the continuation of which is a disgrace to humanity".

The king expressed his " strong condemnation and condemnation in the strongest terms of the heinous massacre committed by Israel today against innocent civilians, the wounded and the sick who were receiving treatment at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza."

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said that the Kingdom condemns the Israeli bombing of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, adding that "this dangerous development forces the international community to abandon double standards," and demanded the immediate opening of safe corridors to send aid to Gaza, Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati declared Wednesday a day of national mourning for the victims in Gaza, with flags flying.

For its part, Qatar condemned Israel's bombing of the Baptist Hospital, considering it a brutal massacre and a crime against civilians, and called on the international community to shoulder its responsibility and deter Israel from committing more crimes against civilians

The Sultanate of Oman condemned the targeting of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City "by the Israeli occupation forces and the death of hundreds of civilians between a martyr and a wounded, which represents a crime of war crimes and genocide and a violation of international humanitarian law, ethics and international charters, and expressed its condolences and condolences to the families of the victims," according to the Omani news agency.

The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, condemned the bombing, saying in a tweet via his account on the X platform (Twitter): "which mind of hell is that who deliberately bombs a hospital with its unarmed inmates?" The West must stop this tragedy immediately.

Egypt condemned the bombing of the Baptist Hospital, saying that " this deliberate bombing of civilian facilities and targets (is) a serious violation of the provisions of international and humanitarian law and the most basic values of humanity," the Algerian presidency strongly condemned Israel's "deliberate attack" on a hospital in the Gaza Strip, Morocco strongly condemned the shelling of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza by Israeli forces and the Kingdom renewed in a statement to the Ministry of foreign affairs "its demand for the protection of civilians by all parties and not to target them.

So did the World Health Organization, which said in a statement: "the hospital was ready to work, patients, health care providers and displaced people were taking shelter in it, and initial reports indicate that hundreds of people were killed and injured.

US President Joe Biden expressed his" deep anger and sadness "over the explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, and gave his instructions to his national security advisers to collect more information, and Biden expressed in a statement his"deep anger and sadness over the explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza and the resulting terrible loss of life".

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the bombing that affected the hospital in Gaza City, considering that" nothing can justify targeting civilians, "Macron said in a post on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that" all the circumstances of what happened at the Civil Hospital in Gaza must be clarified, also calling for humanitarian aid to be provided to the Strip "without delay," adding that "France condemns the attack on the Arab Civil Hospital in Gaza, which caused a large number of Palestinian victims," expressing his sympathy with the families of the victims and the wounded.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Britain would work with its allies to find out what happened and protect innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the attack on a hospital in Gaza is "the latest example of Israeli attacks devoid of the most basic human values," Erdogan wrote on the social media platform X, "I call on all humanity to take action to stop this unprecedented brutality in Gaza.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the Israeli raid on a hospital in Gaza "absolutely appalling and unacceptable", and Trudeau told reporters that it was "unacceptable to bomb a hospital".

The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, tweeted that there are too many dead, showing the tragic situation on the ground for those living there, and the United Nations condemned the attack on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, and called for an end to attacks on civilians and health facilities, and the World Health Organization condemned the attack "strongly".

The Islamic Jihad Movement denied the" lies"and" false accusations "directed by the Israeli army that it was responsible for the rocket shelling of the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday night, stressing that Israel is trying to"evade its responsibility for the brutal massacre".

"According to intelligence information, and based on several sources we have obtained, the Islamic Jihad movement is responsible for the failed rocket attack that hit the hospital,"the IDF said in a statement.

In response to these accusations, the Islamic Jihad said in a statement that "as usual in fabricating lies, the Zionist enemy is trying hard to evade responsibility for the brutal massacre committed by bombing the hospital and pointing fingers at the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine," adding that "the accusations promoted by the enemy are false and baseless accusations," and the statement considered that "the conflicting accounts provided by the enemy reveal his lie.

The Hamas movement described the bombing of the hospital as "genocide repeated again", while the Palestinian Authority announced mourning and flag-waving for the victims, and the Palestinian Foreign Ministry described what happened as a "cold-blooded massacre".

Russia and the United Arab Emirates called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after the bombing of the hospital, and the council will vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution drafted by Brazil calling for a humanitarian truce in the conflict between Israel and Hamas to allow humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip.