The ongoing conflict in the Middle East appears set to escalate further after a massive blast at a hospital in the Gaza Strip reportedly killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians on the evening of Oct. 17.
According to Palestinian sources in Gaza, the blast at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital was caused by an Israeli airstrike.
More than 400 people who had sought shelter at the hospital were said to have been killed in the blast.
Israel has claimed that the blast was caused by a failed missile launch by Gaza-based terrorist faction Islamic Jihad–an assertion vehemently denied by the group.
The incident has drawn condemnation from countries and organizations across the region, who described it as an intentional “massacre” by Israel’s military.
In the immediate wake of the blast, Jordan–a U.S. ally–canceled a planned four-way summit between Jordanian King Abdullah II, U.S. President Joe Biden, and the leaders of Egypt and the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA).
The summit had been slated to take place on Oct. 18 in the Jordanian capital Amman.
Announcing the summit’s cancellation, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned that the ongoing conflict was “pushing the region to the brink.”
President Joe Biden, currently in Israel to express Washington’s support for the Jewish state, appeared to accept Israel’s version of the deadly hospital blast.
“It appears as though [the hospital blast] was done by the other team, not you,” he said at a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
President Biden noted, however, that there were “a lot of people out there” who challenged the Israeli narrative.
The deadly blast sparked angry anti-Israel demonstrations in several Middle Eastern countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, and NATO member Turkey.
In Ramallah, the capital of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, protesters demanded the resignation of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who they said hadn’t done enough to stop Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the hospital blast as “the latest example of Israeli attacks devoid of the most basic human values.”
Along with most other regional leaders, Mr. Erdogan rejected Israel’s claim that it wasn’t responsible for the carnage.
In Istanbul, thousands of demonstrators–waving Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Israel slogans–converged on the Israeli Consulate.
Turkish police used water cannons to disperse protesters, some of whom reportedly tried to enter the building.
Israel, meanwhile, has called on its citizens in Turkey to leave the country as soon as possible.
On Oct. 18, massive anti-Israel protests were also reported outside the U.S. Embassy in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
UN: Gaza at ‘Breaking Point’
For the past 11 days, Israeli warplanes have relentlessly pounded the Gaza Strip, leveling buildings and killing hundreds of Palestinians.Before the hospital blast, Gaza’s health ministry had put the number of slain Palestinians at more than 3,000, mostly women and children.
The strikes come as a response to an Oct. 7 cross-border raid by Gaza-based terrorist organization Hamas in which at least 1,400 Israelis–soldiers and civilians–were killed.
According to Israel’s military, some 200 Israeli hostages are being held by Hamas, while more than 300 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ongoing violence.
Along with round-the-clock airstrikes, Israel has cut supplies of food, water, fuel, and electricity into the Gaza Strip, which is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.
U.N. officials have warned that Israel’s blockade and continued airstrikes had brought Gaza’s humanitarian situation to “the breaking point.”
Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been subject to a crippling blockade by Israel and Egypt, the latter of which shares a 7.5-mile border with the coastal enclave.
While Hamas and Islamic Jihad are regarded as terrorists by most Western capitals, many in the Arab and Muslim world view them as legitimate “resistance” groups against Israel’s longstanding occupation of Arab land.
Gaza Blast a ‘Crime’: Moscow
Moscow has condemned the Gaza hospital blast as an overtly criminal act.“We view this deadly attack as a crime,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Russian media on Oct. 18.
She went on to urge Israel to produce evidence that its military wasn’t responsible for the attack.
“[Israel] shouldn’t just comment in media outlets and on social media,” Ms. Zakharova asserted. “It must produce evidence.”
Unlike most Western capitals, Moscow doesn’t regard Hamas as a terrorist group.
On Oct. 16, Russia introduced a draft resolution at the U.N. Security Council calling for an immediate “humanitarian ceasefire.”
The proposal called for the release of hostages being held by Hamas; humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza; and the evacuation of civilians from the embattled enclave.
It also condemned violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism.
But the Russian proposal fell short of endorsement after three permanent Council members–the United States, the UK, and France–all voted against it.
According to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Washington’s U.N. envoy, the United States voted against the proposal because it didn’t explicitly condemn Hamas.
“Russia is giving cover to a terrorist group that brutalizes innocent civilians,” Ms. Thomas-Greenield said, calling the draft resolution “outrageous.”
After the vote, Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s U.N. envoy, accused Western states of opposing the draft merely because it had been tabled by Russia.
“The world waited with bated breath for the Security Council to take steps to end the bloodletting,” he said.
“But the West’s U.N. delegations have crushed those expectations.”
On Oct. 18, the United States vetoed a Brazil-drafted resolution that called for a “humanitarian pause” to the violence and explicitly condemned “terrorist attacks by Hamas.”
The UK and Russia both abstained from the vote, while the remaining twelve Council members voted in favor.
After the Oct. 18 vote, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield voiced Washington’s disappointment that Brazil’s draft resolution failed to mention Israel’s “right to self-defense.”
“The Council needs to get this right,” she said.
Mr. Nebenzia slammed the U.S. move, accusing Washington of “hypocrisy and double standards.”
