► Ireland releases humanitarian aid for the Palestinians
The Irish government announced on Wednesday October 18 that it had allocated €13 million in immediate additional humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and called for a ceasefire in the war sparked by the Palestinian movement Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel became.
“Tonight I am announcing an emergency package of 13 million euros,” Foreign Minister Michael Martin told the Irish Parliament. These funds, which are in addition to Ireland’s €16 million program for the Palestinians this year, will flow through United Nations agencies.
► Greece: 10,000 demonstrators in support of Palestinians in Athens
Around 10,000 people gathered in central Athens on Wednesday in solidarity with Palestinians before marching towards the Israeli embassy.
Another pro-Israel rally, the first in Greece since the Hamas attack on October 7, took place shortly before the same embassy and brought together around a hundred people. The Israeli-Greek Friendship Association had called on participants on Facebook to “express their solidarity and demand justice for the thousands of innocent people who were murdered, but also the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas.”
► Exchange of fire on the Israeli-Lebanese border
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had “eliminated a terrorist cell” that had fired mortar shells into its territory from Lebanon, at a time when violence on the border is increasing in the wake of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas .
According to a press release, the Israeli army also said it responded to the shelling of villages in northern Israel with anti-tank missiles in the same area. A little earlier, warning sirens had sounded in northern Israel and “nine projectiles crossed Lebanese territory towards Israel,” according to the army.
► Attack on hospital in Gaza: Palestinians demand ICC investigation
The Palestinian Authority is calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the deadly attack on a Gaza hospital that Israelis and Palestinians blame each other for, its representative in France, Hala Abou Hassira, said on Wednesday
“The Palestinian State filed a case today (Wednesday) with the International Criminal Court to investigate this crime. We need an international investigation,” she said during a press conference at the Palestinian mission in France.
► 10,000 demonstrators near the Israeli embassy in Amman
Around 10,000 people demonstrated near the Israeli embassy in Amman on Wednesday following a deadly shooting at a hospital in Gaza that Israel and the Palestinian armed movements blamed each other for.
Large security forces deployed at the site prevented protesters from approaching the building in the Rabieh district in the west of the capital and blocked all roads leading to the embassy.
► Israel approved delivery of aid to Gaza “as soon as possible”
Israel has agreed to the import of aid into the Gaza Strip “as quickly as possible,” US President Joe Biden assured on Wednesday during a visit to Tel Aviv and called on Israel not to repeat the US’s “mistakes” after the attacks on September 11 September 2001.
President Biden also believed that the release of the hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s bloody October 7 attack on Israeli soil was a “top priority” and announced that he would contact Congress “this week.” will ask for “unprecedented” help for the Israeli ally.
► Almost 500 dead in Ahli Arab Hospital, according to Hamas
At least 471 people were killed in the attack on the grounds of a hospital in the Gaza Strip, according to a new report from the Hamas Ministry of Health, which controls the Palestinian territory.
The same source reported at least 200 dead on Tuesday evening, with Hamas accusing Israel of being behind the deadly attack on the al-Ahli Episcopal Hospital in Gaza City. Israel blames Islamic Jihad, another armed Islamist organization in Gaza, which it categorically denies.
In total, at least 3,478 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Ministry of Health of the government of the Palestinian Islamist movement said.
► Joe Biden supports the Israeli authorities’ version
US President Joe Biden, who visited Israel on Wednesday, supported the Israeli authorities’ version that Palestinian militants were responsible for the attack that killed hundreds of people in a Gaza hospital.
“I was deeply saddened and shocked by the hospital explosion in Gaza yesterday (Tuesday). And based on what I have seen, it appears that this was carried out by the other side,” Joe Biden said alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.
Based on the “information” he allegedly had, the American president attributed the attack on a hospital compound in Gaza to an “out-of-control rocket” fired by a “terrorist group” in Palestinian territory.
► Egypt accuses “Israeli bombings” of blocking aid access to Gaza
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sissi reiterated on Wednesday, October 18, that his country had “not closed the Rafah crossing” with the Gaza Strip, but that no humanitarian aid had entered the Palestinian territory due to “Israeli bombings.”
Hundreds of trucks have been stuck in Egypt’s Sinai desert for days because they cannot access the 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip, while the World Health Organization (WHO) now reiterates: “Every second we wait for medical help, we lose we live.” .”
► WHO calls for “stopping all attacks on health facilities”
The World Health Organization (WHO) called on Israel and Hamas on Wednesday to stop all attacks on medical facilities after at least 200 people were killed in a Gaza hospital.
“We demand at least that all attacks on health facilities be stopped,” said WHO Europe head Hans Kluge.
► Russia and China condemn the hospital strike
The attack on the hospital in Gaza was a “tragedy,” Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday during an official visit to China, saying he hoped for a quick end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. “It is a terrible event, hundreds dead and injured. It is a humanitarian catastrophe. I really hope that this is a signal that we need to end this conflict as quickly as possible,” the Russian president said at a press conference.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, in turn, “strongly condemned” the attack, said it was “shocked” and called for an “immediate ceasefire.”
► Israel has “evidence” that an Islamic Jihad rocket hit a hospital
The Israeli army claimed on Wednesday, October 18, to have “evidence” of the responsibility of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in the Gaza hospital explosion that killed hundreds of people.
“The evidence we are sharing with all of you confirms that the explosion at a hospital in Gaza was caused by the firing of a failed Islamic Jihad rocket,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said during a news conference. “This professional analysis is based on information, operating systems and aerial images, all of which have been cross-referenced. »
► “Terrible” scenes for Ursula von der Leyen, Olaf Scholz “horrified”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ruled on Wednesday that “nothing” could excuse an “attack on a hospital full of civilians” and denounced “horrific” scenes after a deadly attack in Gaza on the grounds of a hospital. “All the facts must be clarified and those responsible must be held accountable,” she added to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday he was “horrified” by the attack on a hospital in Gaza and called for a “thorough investigation.” “I am horrified by the images of this explosion in a hospital in Gaza. Innocent civilians were injured and killed. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims. “A thorough investigation into this incident is imperative,” he said on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
► Clashes in the West Bank and in front of Western embassies
Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday evening, demanding the resignation of President Mahmoud Abbas. “Get out,” “the people want the president to be overthrown,” chanted the demonstrators who gathered in a hospital in Gaza shortly after the strike. In the evening there were clashes between demonstrators and Palestinian security forces who fired tear gas canisters.
From Tuesday to Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators also gathered in front of the French and British embassies in Tehran. “Death to France and England,” demonstrators in Tehran shouted, throwing eggs against the walls of the French embassy compound.
“The French and the Americans are the allies of the Zionists,” also chanted angry demonstrators who gathered in front of the French embassy headquarters in central Tunis. In Beirut, the French embassy was deliberately pelted with stones.
► International condemnation of the attack on the hospital in Gaza
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres estimated Wednesday that Hamas’ attack in Israel could not justify “the collective punishment of Palestinians” in Gaza, an area hit hard by Israeli retaliatory bombing.
European Council President Charles Michel assessed on Tuesday evening that an attack on civilian infrastructure was not in line with “international law”, while French leader Emmanuel Macron stressed on Tuesday that “nothing can justify targeted attacks on civilians can”.
Nothing can justify a strike against a hospital. Nothing can justify targeting civilians.
France condemns the attack on the Al-Ahli Arabi hospital in Gaza, which caused so many Palestinian victims. We think of them. All light must be brought into the darkness.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 17, 2023
► Jordan cancels summit with Joe Biden planned for Wednesday
Joe Biden expressed “his deepest condolences for the innocent people who died in the Gaza hospital explosion” and wishes “a speedy recovery to those injured,” the White House said Tuesday.
Jordan canceled the summit it was scheduled to attend with King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sissi and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.
► A day of “public mourning” decreed by the Iranian president
Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi declared a day of “public mourning” on Wednesday and predicted that the attack on the hospital would be aimed at Israel and its American ally. On Tuesday, Iran’s prime minister threatened possible “preventative measures” against Israel, which is preparing a ground offensive against Gaza.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, called for a “day of rage” on Wednesday to condemn the “massacre” it blames on Israel.
► The UN calls for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas during a speech in Beijing on Wednesday.
“I call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to alleviate (…) the terrible human suffering we are witnessing,” he told representatives from around 130 countries at the New Silk Roads Forum.
At the request of Russia and the United Arab Emirates, the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday and shortly beforehand vote on a resolution introduced by Brazil to try to find a common position on the conflict.