US President Joe Biden touched down in Israel on Wednesday for a diplomatic effort to stop the war with Hamas from converting into an even larger conflict, a challenge made more difficult after an explosion that killed hundreds in a Gaza hospital Tuesday evening.
The Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on October 17 hit a Gaza City hospital packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter, killing more than 500 people taking shelter and booked for medical treatments.
The US head of the state expressed his deepest condolences to the victims’ families, saying that the incident left him outraged and deeply saddened.
He received a warm welcome from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden declared that the US would provide Israel with everything it needed to defend itself amid the continuing war in Gaza.
About 500 people have been killed in a blast at a hospital in Gaza. The hospital was sheltering thousands of displaced people seeking medical treatment when the attack occurred. The strike on the Al-Ahli Arab hospital is the bloodiest event in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began.
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) denies being behind the al-Ahli Arab hospital explosion and has shared a clip suggesting it was the result of a failed rocket launch from the Islamic Jihad terror group.
Calling the claims fake, Riyad Mansour, the representative of Palestine to the United Nations, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of shifting the narrative “to blame Palestinians” for the recent bombing of the Al Ahli Arab Hospital.
Mansour claimed that Netanyahu’s digital spokesperson tweeted on X that “Israel did the hit” but later deleted it. Over 500 people died immediately after rocket strike on Gaza City hospital, and death toll is expected to rise over 1000.
