At least 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday night, the Gaza Health Ministry said—an attack that could be the deadliest blast in decades of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Hundreds of people were taking shelter at the Anglican-run al-Ahli Hospital at the time of the explosion, around 7 p.m. local time, according to Palestinian officials.
The blast appears to be far deadlier than a previous attack, which destroyed two floors of the hospital’s cancer center on Oct. 14. That explosion injured four staffers, according to the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
“An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit,” the Israeli military said in a statement. “Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza.”
Source: President Mahmoud Abbas cancels planned meeting with President Biden after hospital strike
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — A senior Palestinian official says President Mahmoud Abbas has canceled his participation in a meeting scheduled Wednesday with President Joe Biden and other Mideast leaders.
Abbas was scheduled to join Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at Wednesday’s summit in Amman, Jordan, where they are to discuss the latest Israel-Hamas war with Biden.
But the senior official said Abbas was withdrawing to protest an alleged Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza that Hamas health officials say has killed over 500 people.
IDF says it is investigating reports of hospital strike
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said Israel was investigating the reports of deaths after a strike at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City.
“We have heard the reports from Gaza and are investigating,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a media briefing.
