A hospital in Gaza was the scene this Tuesday of one of those tragedies that change the course of a war. At least 500 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombing of Al Ahli al Arabi, a hospital in the heart of the capital that was overflowing with patients and people seeking refuge from airstrikes, according to Gaza authorities. The Israeli army, however, counters that the explosion was the result of a “failed missile launch” by Islamic Jihad. If Israeli responsibility is confirmed, the hospital tragedy in Gaza would be one of the largest massacres ever caused by an Israeli army bombing. The massacre revolves around the visit that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, is making this Wednesday to the region to negotiate the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, due to the “total siege” of water, electricity and fuel run out. ” ” decreed by Israel. A small massacre at a UN compound in Lebanon prompted then-Israeli Prime Minister Simon Peres to end Operation The Grapes of Wrath in 1996.
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Images from the crime scene show dozens of bodies taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, also in the capital. Al Jazeera aired a video capturing the moment of the massive explosion. According to the Ministry of Health, the death toll in the eleven days of the bombings was already over 3,000, almost a third of whom were minors.
The Israeli army has stated that analysis of its “operations systems” revealed the firing of a “salvo of enemy missiles” against Israel that “traversed the area around the hospital when it was hit.” And he blames the fallout on a failed Islamic Jihad shot, based on “intelligence information” from “multiple sources.” “Let the whole world know: the barbaric terrorists of Gaza are the only ones who attacked the hospital in Gaza, not the army,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded.
The news sent the streets of the Arab and Muslim world into turmoil. In the Palestinian part of Jerusalem and in West Bank cities such as Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem, dozens of people are demonstrating and demanding the resignation of the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who canceled the four-party meeting he planned this Wednesday with Biden, King Abdullah from Jordan and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al Sisi. Security forces responded with tear gas and noise grenades to disperse the demonstrators. Thousands of people are protesting in front of Israeli diplomatic missions in Istanbul, Amman and Beirut.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, a bomb attack occurred on Tuesday in the courtyard of a hospital in Gaza, killing at least 500 people. In the picture, a woman holds a child in her arms at Al-Shifa Hospital after being transferred from Al-Ahli Health Center. Anadolu Agency (Anadolu via Getty Images)
Dozens of bodies are piled up outside the doors of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, where the bombing victims were transferred. Anadolu Agency (Anadolu via Getty Images)
Palestinians, including children, injured in the bombing of the Al-Ahli health center are being treated at a hospital in Khan Yunis.HAITHAM IMAD (EFE)
Several injured people wait for medical treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Abed Khaled (AP)
Flames at Al-Ahli Hospital after the bomb attack. STRINGER (EFE)
Palestinians injured in the bombing of Al-Ahli Hospital receive medical care at Al-Shifa Health Center, located about three kilometers from the first. Abed Khaled (AP)
A health worker treats a person injured in the Al-Ahlil Hospital bombing at the Al-Shifa Health Center.STRINGER (Portal)
Arrival of an injured person at Al-Shifa Hospital, this Tuesday. Abed Khaled (AP)
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Al Jazeera broadcast a speech in which Hamas leader Ismail Haniya called for an “uprising” by all Palestinians in the world and called on the rest of the Arab and Muslim world to join the protests. “We are on the verge of making history,” Haniya added, calling for condemnation of this “general massacre” by the United States and the international community. Khaled Meshaal, the former leader of Hamas who lives in Qatar, has called for rallies in front of Israel’s various diplomatic missions.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “strongly” condemned the attack on the hospital, which is run by the Anglican Episcopal Church of Jerusalem. Tedros called for “immediate protection of civilians and health facilities” as well as the lifting of Israel’s evacuation order for the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which 600,000 of the 1.1 million residents have already followed.
In addition, there are another 400,000 displaced people, mainly in hospitals and schools run by the United Nations Organization for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). This is the case with the victims of the bombing. Some have lost their homes and others have moved to places they consider safer from bombing.
Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and the Arab League have also expressed their opposition. The head of the latter organization, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, called on the West to “immediately stop the tragedy in Gaza,” while the King of Jordan spoke of “massacres” and “war crimes.” Qatari diplomacy has called the expansion of Israeli attacks on hospitals, schools and other population centers a “dangerous escalation.” The emirate, with an ambitious foreign policy and ties to both the United States and Hamas, is conducting mediation tasks to reach an agreement that would allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.
An injured man who was transferred from Al-Ahli Hospital lies on the floor of Al-Shifa Hospital.Abed Khaled (AP)
The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry issued a statement emphasizing that this massacre “will forever remain a stain on the conscience of humanity, which witnessed the atrocities against the Palestinian people without taking any action against it.”
More cautious was the reaction of European Council President Charles Michel, who pointed out that the information “seems to be confirmed.” Michel recalled that attacks on civilian infrastructure “are not in accordance with international law.”
Hours before the Al-Ahli hospital bombing, Patricia Garrido, delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the West Bank city of Ramallah, lamented that “the boundaries of hospitals” were not being respected. “There are bombings and damage to health infrastructure,” Garrido added. inform Patricia R Blanco. The bombings also cause problems with radio communications and complicate “rescue services.” “The number 101 [teléfono de emergencias en Palestina] “It’s failing,” he told this newspaper.
The “complete blockade” of the Gaza Strip by land, sea and air ordered by the Israeli Ministry of Defense last Monday has made the situation in hospitals in the Gaza Strip “supercritical and at an unsustainable level.” In the two Red Crescent hospitals in the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City and Khan Younis, “80% of the fuel supplies have already been used up since last Thursday” and there is hardly any food, water or medicine left. In addition to the patients, about 8,000 people are seeking refuge there from Israeli bombings. “I don’t know how much longer they can hold out if they don’t open the Rafah crossing,” which connects the Gaza Strip with Egypt. “Many lives could be saved, but they will not be saved if the blockade on the arrival of humanitarian aid continues.”
Hours earlier, Israel had already bombed a UNRWA school in Al Maghazi camp, also in the capital, which was housing 4,000 people, according to the organization’s top official, Philippe Lazzarini. At least six people have died, although “the number is likely to rise.” “It is outrageous and once again shows a blatant disregard for the lives of civilians. “There are no safe places left in Gaza, not even UN facilities,” Lazzarini lamented in a statement. The UN provides Israel with the coordinates of its facilities.
Several women mourn at Al-Shifa Hospital after being transferred from the attacked health center. Anadolu Agency (Anadolu via Getty Images)
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