Israel-Hamas war: Hundreds feared killed in hospital blast

No fewer than five hundred people are reported to have died in a massive explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, on the eve of Joe Biden’s arrival for a visit that was intended to fend off the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and prevent the conflict escalating into a regional war.

The Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, claimed that more than 500 people had been killed an Israeli airstrike on the al-Ahli Arabi Baptist hospital which, if confirmed, would make it the deadliest single bombing of all the five wars Israel and Hamas have fought over Gaza.

An official from the Gaza civil defence said more than 300 people had been killed in the blast.

The Israeli military denied responsibility, suggesting the hospital was hit by a rocket barrage launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. Islamic Jihad also denied responsibility, saying: “The occupation is trying to cover for the horrifying crime and massacre they committed against civilians.”

The bombing of the hospital threw a dark shadow over Biden’s visit on Wednesday, which was already the most difficult and critical foreign trip of his presidency.

Late on Tuesday, Jordan cancelled a summit in Amman where Biden had been due to hold talks with King Abdullah, and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, after the US president’s visit to Israel.

Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi told Al Jazeera the summit was cancelled because “there is no use in talking now about anything except stopping the war”.

The White House later issued a statement, saying: “After consulting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, President Biden will postpone his travel to Jordan and the planned meeting with these two leaders and President Sisi of Egypt.”

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had earlier pulled out of meeting, after declaring three days of national mourning.

In a statement, Abbas said: “What is taking place is genocide. We call on the international community to intervene immediately to stop this massacre. Silence is no longer acceptable.”

Protests broke out across the West Bank after the hospital blast, and in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, demonstrators threw rocks at the Palestinian security forces who fired on the crowds with stun grenades.

Biden was still scheduled to hold talks with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, seeking to show US solidarity with Israel in the wake of the 7 October Hamas attack which killed more than 1,300 Israelis, in the hope of deterring intervention from the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia from across the border with Lebanon.

At the same time, the US president was hoping to rein in Israeli retribution against Gaza and its 2.3 million population, who are under constant bombardment while running out of water, food and medical supplies. The UN says more than 3,000 Palestinians have died in the 10 days since the Hamas attack.

As a condition of Biden’s visit, Israel agreed to a humanitarian package which included corridors into Gaza for relief supplies and safe areas for Palestinian civilians. But on the eve of his arrival, the border with Egypt, where aid has been stockpiled, remained closed.

Gaza City is in northern Gaza, which Israel ordered to be evacuated of civilians ahead of a planned ground offensive, but many Palestinian residents refused to leave their homes or were unable to travel, including the patients at the al-Ahli hospital. It was packed with Gazans wounded by earlier airstrikes and those seeking shelter from the bombardment.

Over the past two days, the Israeli air force has also struck urban areas in Khan Younis and Rafah, both of which are in the south of the enclave, where Gazans were told to seek shelter.

The border crossing at Rafah, through which aid convoys are waiting to enter, was among the targets. The UN Relief and Works Agency, UNWRA, reported an airstrike on Tuesday on one of its schools in central Gaza, where families displaced from the north had sought refuge. Six people were reported to have been killed.

The UNWRA commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, called the bombing at the al-Maghazi refugee camp “outrageous” and warned the death toll was likely to rise.