Protests across region after Gaza hospital strike blamed on IDF, despite Israel denial

Protesters and skirmishes broke out in the West Bank, Lebanon, and Jordan late Tuesday, as fury erupted over an explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip that killed hundreds of people amid an ongoing war with Israel.

Across the West Bank, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest the explosion, in which Israel has denied involvement, saying the blast was caused by a misfired rocket launched by Gaza terrorists.

Palestinian forces in Ramallah fired tear gas at demonstrators who had gathered, calling for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to step down, apparently over his conciliatory tone since war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began earlier this month.

Videos showed protesters in Ramallah chanting “the people want the fall of the president.”

In Jordan, protesters tried to storm the Israeli embassy with videos circulating on X (Twitter) showing an angry crowd surrounding the building and attempting to force their way inside.

The crowd was dispersed by security forces.

Hundreds take to the streets in Ramallah shouting in "The people want the fall of the President," protesting Mahmoud Abbas' perceived inaction against the war between Israel and Gaza pic.twitter.com/vRFo7rA0iq

— Gianluca Pacchiani (@GLucaPacchiani) October 17, 2023

In Lebanon, Lebanese terror group and Iranian proxy Hezbollah called for a “day of rage” to condemn the hospital blast, as hundreds of demonstrators also gathered at the French and US embassies in protest.

Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian terror group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and sparked the war 11 days ago with a brutal shock assault on Israel that killed over 1,000 civilians of all ages, blamed the hospital blast on Israel, calling it a “massacre” and a “brutal crime.”

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said at least 200 people were killed at the hospital, where displaced people had sheltered in the coastal enclave.

“Let tomorrow, Wednesday, be a day of rage against the enemy,” Hezbollah said in a statement, calling on fellow Muslims and Arabs to “move immediately to streets and squares to express intense anger.”

Following Hezbollah’s call, hundreds of demonstrators scuffled with Lebanese security forces outside the US embassy in the suburb of Awkar, where protesters hurled stones and set a building on fire, according to AFP correspondents.

Police fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters, with medics rushing in to treat cases of suffocation.

“Death to America” and “death to Israel”, the protesters chanted, many of them covering their faces with Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, the correspondents said.

Protesters were also filmed breaking into a UN office in the capital and setting it on fire.

#BREAKING| Angry protesters broke into the #UN building in #Beirut in protest against the #BaptistHospital massacre in #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/NFqEhSwYsw

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 17, 2023

Hundreds also gathered at the French embassy in Beirut, raising Hezbollah flags and also hurling stones which piled up at the embassy’s main entrance.

Palestinian refugee camps in the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre erupted in anger as Palestinian factions in Lebanon called for mass rallies on Wednesday to condemn the hospital explosion.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati declared Wednesday a national day of mourning.

Islamic Jihad is responsible, says Israel

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military said it was not behind the explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, which according to Hamas health authorities led to between 200 and 300 deaths, and that a misfired rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad led to the blast.

In a briefing with reporters, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said radar detected outgoing rocket fire at the same moment the blast at the Gaza hospital occurred on Tuesday evening, and that the military intercepted communications between terror groups indicating that Islamic Jihad fired the rockets.

The army determined there were no air force, ground or naval attacks in the area at the time of the blast at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, he said.

Hagari said “a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit”.

“Intelligence from multiple sources we have… indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza,” he added.

Hagari also shared aerial footage collected by a military drone that showed a blast that he said was inconsistent with Israeli weaponry. He said the explosion occurred in the building’s parking lot.

Since the war began, the military said in a statement that roughly 450 rockets fired at Israel by terror groups had landed in Gaza, “endangering and harming the lives of Gazan residents.”

Several videos have also surfaced appearing to show the moment the rocket fell short and exploded inside Gaza on Tuesday.

Surveillance camera footage from Netiv Haasara shows a large barrage of rockets being launched from northern Gaza, followed by a massive blast in the Strip, apparently caused by a failed projectile. pic.twitter.com/PdNCbks02r

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 17, 2023

But condemnations of Israel from Arab leaders was swift on Tuesday night.

Abbas declared three days of mourning after what he called the “hospital massacre,” and canceled his participation in a four-way summit slated for Wednesday with US President Joe Biden, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Amman.

Following Abbas’s cancelation, Jordan formally announced the summit would be called off.

Biden will now only make a stop in Israel for a wartime visit that is warmly welcomed in Jerusalem.

While aboard Air Force One on his way to Israel overnight Tuesday, Biden released a statement saying he was “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted.”

He said he spoke “immediately” after hearing the news with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said he has “directed my national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened.”

“The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict and we mourn the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy,” Biden added.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said officials haven’t yet determined blame, calling the situation “very dynamic, literally changing by the hour” and adding that it “wouldn’t be appropriate for us to react to initial reports one way or the other.”

“We’re not gonna get into the business of reacting in near real-time,” Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One. He said Jordan declared three days of mourning after the hospital explosion and Biden understood the move and was part of a “mutual” decision to call off the Jordan visit.

Kirby said he’d have an opportunity to speak to the leaders by phone as he returned to Washington.

Arab leaders blame Israel

Earlier, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told state-run television that the war between Israel and Hamas was “pushing the region to the brink.” He said Jordan would host the summit only when everyone had agreed its purpose would be to “stop the war, respect the humanity of the Palestinians and deliver the aid they deserve.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday condemned the explosion, calling it “the latest example of Israeli attacks devoid of the most basic human values,” in a message on social media.

“I invite all humanity to take action to stop this unprecedented brutality in Gaza,” Erdogan said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Turkey’s foreign ministry also condemned “these barbaric attacks in the strongest terms,” in a statement.

A large crowd of protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul, shouting: “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest), local media reported.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said Cairo considered the “deliberate bombing of civilians to be a serious violation of international, humanitarian law and of the most basic values of humanity.” It called on Israel “to immediately stop its policies of collective punishment against the people in the Gaza Strip.”

Jordan’s Abdullah said he considered the incident a “heinous war crime that cannot be tolerated” saying “Israel must immediately stop its brutal aggression against Gaza.”

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry also blasted “Israeli criminal practices” and the United Arab Emirates’ presidential adviser Anwar Gargash lamented the “Israeli targeting of Baptist Hospital” while Bahrain used the opportunity to call for an “urgent ceasefire in Gaza.”