More than 500 people have been killed in an Israeli strike on Al Ahli Hospital, in Gaza on Tuesday night 17th October. This brings the total death toll in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, to over 3,230. The hospital, which had additionally become a place of shelter for thousands of displaced Palestinians who had fled and sought safety from the aerial bombardment, was bombed on Tuesday evening. The attack took place just hours after a UN protected school was also hit, killing 6 people.
Protesters in West Bank call for a ”Day of Rage’
Protests immediately erupted across the capitals of Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq. Enraged demonstrators threw bottles and hand held missiles as police tried to exercise control in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Protesters called for a ‘day of rage’ as they declared the latest attack a ‘massacre’. At least six cities across Iran, saw protests and pitched battles with police in response to what has been hailed an atrocity in Gaza. In Turkey’s capital, Istanbul, protesters tried to enter the Israeli Consulate to express their rage as anti-Israel sentiments appear to have reached new heightened levels across the country. Turkish police struggled to contain the protesters.
Israeli spokesperson suggests the bombing was a Hamas or Islamic Jihad event
Remarkably, the Israeli Government spokesperson and former Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev responded to the devastating news by claiming that the strike was in fact the result of a failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad.
Former UNWRA spokesperson compares Israel’s denial response to the 2014 bombing of UNWRA schools with white phosphorous
Speaking on Al Jazeera TV on Wednesday morning, former UNWRA spokesperson, Chris Gunness, suggested that the message coming from the Israeli government echoed that which was made in 2014, when Israeli bombing targeted an UNWRA facility. He said:
‘Thousands of displaced people were killed as an UNWRA warehouse in Gaza city was hit by white phosphorous – even though we were on the phone begging the Israeli army to call off this attack. As for the hospital itself, when was the last time a home-made rocket from Gaza killed 500 people? Of course we have to await the outcome of the Israeli investigation into this incident, although having said that, in 2014, Mark Regev and the rest of the Israeli spin-doctors, wasted no time in putting out all sorts of disinformation about UNWRA. They put out videos live on American TV, while I was being interviewed, telling the world that there were militants firing rockets from UNWRA schools. These claims were all investigated by the UN and other agencies and they were all found to be complete nonsense. They even put out lies suggesting that UNWRA was collaborating with militants.’
New York Times Visual Investigations Team questions time stamps on Israeli video evidence
In a tweet posted on social media on Tuesday evening, New York Times’s Aric Toler, who is a member of the newspapers ‘Visuals Investigations Team’, questioned the time classifications tabs on the videos released by the IDF, which were being used to provide evidence that the bombing was an Hamas event. Toler suggested that the time stamps on the video indicated that they were created at least 40 minutes after the bombing had actually occurred. It was noted that soon after Toler posted details of his findings, the video’s suddenly disappeared from all Israeli army online platforms.
US President declares solidarity with Israel and blames bombing on ‘the other team’
As US President Joe Biden arrived in Tel Aviv and appeared with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, he expressed his solidarity with Israel and his acceptance of the Israeli version of events, declaring that:
‘Based on what I have seen, it was done by the other team, not you. But there’s a lot of people out there who are not sure. So we’ve got to overcome a lot of things’
The US President had planned a mini tour of the Middle-East in a bid to show solidarity with Israel whilst calming tensions in neighboring Arab countries in order to stop the conflict from spreading. However, a planned summit in Jordan’s capital Amman, hosted by its King Abdullah and due to be attended by Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, has been cancelled in light of the shocking attack.
The West sides with Israel’s version of events and the Arab World condemns Israel as responsible for ‘clear violation of international law’
It seems that most Western governments and the Western media are prepared to accept the account of the Israeli government, whilst the entire Arab world has unanimously accepted that the responsibility for the bombing lies with the Israeli Air force. Even the UAE and Bahrain, which had recently renewed ties with Israel under the Trump initiative Abraham Accords, openly condemned the ‘Israeli’ attacks.
The UAE press spokesperson declared:
‘The United Arab Emirates strongly condemns the Israeli attack… resulting in the death and injury of hundreds of people’
The Bahrain Foreign Ministry issued a statement which:
‘…expressed the Kingdom of Bahrain’s condemnation and strong denunciation of the Israeli bombing’
Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, condemned in the strongest terms ‘the Israeli bombing’ of the Ahli Arab hospital, which he said led to:
‘the deaths of hundreds of innocent victims’ adding that ‘deliberate bombing” is a ‘clear violation of international law’
Saudi Arabia, which has cancelled talks, designed to review prospective ties with Israel, declared the attack:
‘Heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces’
Jordan said that Israel:
‘bears responsibility for this grave incident’
And Qatar declared the attack ‘ a brutal massacre’
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), unequivocally blamed Israel for the bombing and called it:
‘a war crime, a crime against humanity, and organised state terrorism’
