Hamas and Israel trade accusations as Gaza hospital explosion kills hundreds, anger spreads across region.

Hamas and Israel trade accusations as Gaza hospital explosion kills hundreds, anger spreads across region.

KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) - A massive explosion on Tuesday shook a Gaza City hospital full of injured and other Palestinians seeking refuge, killing hundreds of people, police said. The announcement was made by the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military blamed an accidental rocket fire by another Palestinian militant group. The ministry said at least 500 people were killed. As anger over the hospital massacre spreads across the region and President Joe Biden visits the Middle East in hopes of stopping the war from escalating, Jordan's foreign minister said the country was scheduled to visit Amman on Wednesday. He said he had canceled the regional summit and said Biden had been invited to attend. Meetings with King Abdullah II of Jordan, President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine, and President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt. advertisement Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on state television that the war between Israel and Hamas was pushing the region to "the brink." He said Jordan would only host the summit if everyone agreed that the summit's objective was to "stop the war, respect the humanity of the Palestinian people and provide them with the assistance they deserve."

Hamas called Tuesday's hospital explosion a "terrible massacre" and said it was caused by an Israeli attack. The Israeli military has condemned Islamic Jihad, a smaller, more militant Palestinian militant group that often collaborates with Hamas. The military said Islamic Jihad militants fired rockets near the hospital and that "information from multiple sources" suggested Islamic Jihad militants were responsible. The military's chief spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari, said in a briefing with reporters that the military had concluded that there was no air, land or sea attack in the area at the time of the explosion. He said radar captured the rocket fire at the same time and intercepted communications between the militants, suggesting that Islamic Jihad fired the rocket. Hagari also shared aerial footage of the explosion collected by military drones, which he said is inconsistent with Israeli weapons. He said the explosion occurred in the building's parking lot and could not confirm the death toll.

Since the start of the war, the military said in a statement that around 50 rockets fired by Israeli insurgents have landed in Gaza, "endangering the lives of Gaza residents and causing damage." Islamic Jihad rejects these claims and accuses Israel of "striving to avoid responsibility for the brutal atrocities it perpetrated." The group pointed to the evacuation order from al-Ahly and previous bombing of the hospital complex as evidence that the hospital was an Israeli target. He also said the size of the explosion, the angle of impact of the bomb and the extent of destruction all pointed to Israel. Hundreds of Palestinians have taken refuge in Gaza City's al-Ahly Hospital and other hospitals in recent days after Israel ordered all residents of Gaza City and surrounding areas to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip. I was hoping to escape the shelling.

Ambulances and private vehicles took about 350 victims of the al-Ahli explosion to Gaza City's main hospital, al-Shifa, which was already overwhelmed with injuries from other attacks, the hospital's director said. said Mohamed Abu Selmia. The injured were lying on the floor covered in blood and screaming in pain.

"We need equipment, we need medicine, we need beds, we need anesthesia, we need everything," Abu Selmia said. He warned that the hospital's generators would run out of fuel within hours. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, prior to the death at al-Arhi Hospital, Israeli attacks on Gaza had killed at least 2,778 people and injured 9,700, with nearly two-thirds of the dead being children. Health officials say another 1,200 people are believed to be buried dead or alive under rubble across the Gaza Strip. More than 1, 00 people have been killed in Israel so far, most of them civilians in a Hamas operation in October. 7 attacks. Approximately 200 people were detained in Gaza as a result of the attack. Hamas militants in Gaza have been firing rockets daily ever since, targeting cities across Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinians flooded the streets of major West Bank cities, including Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, as protesters threw stones at Palestinian security forces, who responded with stun grenades. West Bank authorities said some threw stones at Israeli checkpoints where soldiers had killed Palestinians. Elsewhere, hundreds of people took part in protests in Beirut, Iraq and Amman, where angry crowds gathered outside the Israeli embassy. In Amman, a palace statement said Jordan's king condemned "the ugly massacre carried out by Israel against innocent civilians." According to the statement, the king warned that "this war, which has entered a dangerous stage, will plunge the region into an unspeakable catastrophe." Tens of thousands of troops are stationed along the border, and Israel was expected to launch a ground invasion of Gaza, but its plans remained unclear. "We are preparing for the next phase of the war," military spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said. "I haven't said yet what they will be. Everyone is talking about a ground attack. It could be something else." Dozens of civilians and at least one Hamas official were killed in airstrikes throughout Tuesday in the southern half of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces urged fleeing Palestinians to leave. An Associated Press reporter witnessed about 50 bodies being taken to Nasser Hospital after a strike in the southern city of Khan Yunis. The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas hideouts, infrastructure and headquarters. The airstrike in Deir al-Balah reduced a house to rubble, killing a neighboring house and the men and 11 women and children inside, some of whom had fled Gaza City. Witnesses said there was no warning before the attack.

At least 1 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the home of Hamas' top political official, Ismail Haniyeh, in Gaza City. Haniya is based in Doha, Qatar, but his family lives in Gaza City. Hamas media outlets did not immediately identify the dead. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to blame Hamas for Israel's retaliatory attacks and rising civilian casualties in Gaza. "Not only are they targeting and killing civilians with unprecedented ferocity, they are hiding behind civilians," he said. With Israel banning most water, fuel and food imports into the Gaza Strip since Hamas' brutal attacks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced a mechanism to provide aid to the region's 2.3 million people. An agreement was reached with Prime Minister Netanyahu to establish a . U.S. officials emphasized that while the growth may seem modest, it is an important step forward. No agreement was reached late Tuesday. A senior Israeli official said the country wanted assurances that Hamas militants would not seize aid. Israeli National Security Council Chairman Tsahi Hanegvi suggested that the provision of aid would also depend on the return of hostages held by Hamas. More than 1 million Palestinians, about half of Gaza's population, have fled their homes, and 60% are now located about 1 kilometers south of the evacuation zone, according to the United Nations. At the Rafah border crossing, the only connection between Gaza and Egypt, trucks carrying relief supplies have been waiting to enter the country for more than a day. The World Food Program said it was preparing more than 300 tonnes of food for shipment to Gaza.

Mr. Crabb reported from Baghdad. Nessman reported from Jerusalem. Mr. Lee reported from Amman. Associated Press journalist Amy Teibel in Jerusalem. Abby Sewell of Beirut; Sammy Magdy and Jack Jeffrey of Cairo; and Ashraf Swayram in El Arish, Egypt, contributed to this report.