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After blast kills hundreds at Gaza hospital, Hamas and Israel trade blame as rage spreads in region

Wounded Palestinians wait for treatment in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, central Gaza Strip, after arriving from al-Ahli hospital following an explosion there, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. The Hamas-run Health Ministry says an Israeli airstrike caused the explosion that killed hundreds at al-Ahli, but the Israeli military says it was a misfired Palestinian rocket. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

Wounded Palestinians wait for treatment in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, central Gaza Strip, after arriving from al-Ahli hospital following an explosion there, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. The Hamas-run Health Ministry says an Israeli airstrike caused the explosion that killed hundreds at al-Ahli, but the Israeli military says it was a misfired Palestinian rocket. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — A massive blast rocked a Gaza City hospital packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter Tuesday, killing hundreds of people, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said. Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military blamed a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants.

At least 500 people were killed, the ministry said.

As rage spread through the region because of the hospital carnage, and with President Joe Biden heading to the Mideast in hopes of stopping the war from spreading, Jordan’s foreign minister said his country canceled a regional summit scheduled for Wednesday in Amman, where Biden was to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

The war between Israel and Hamas was “pushing the region to the brink,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told state-run television. 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.”

Biden will now visit only Israel, a White House official said.

The explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital left gruesome scenes. Video that The Associated Press confirmed was from the hospital showed fire engulfing the building and the hospital grounds strewn with torn bodies, many of them young children. The grass around them was strewn with blankets, school backpacks and other belongings.

The bloodshed unfolded as the U.S. tried to convince Israel to allow the delivery of supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals in the tiny Gaza Strip, which has been under a complete siege since Hamas’ deadly rampage in southern Israel last week. Hundreds of thousands of increasingly desperate people were searching for bread and water.

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Palestinian families rush out of their homes after Israeli airstrikes targeting their neighbourhood in Gaza City, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

Live Updates | Biden’s four-way summit with Arab leaders called off as he heads to Israel

Palestinians evacuates a survivor from a destroyed house hit by an Israeli airstrike in town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. November 17, 2023 (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)

Biden has not made Israeli-Palestinian negotiations a priority. Arab leaders say the region is now paying the price.

Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour addresses UN Security Council members at UN Headquarters on Monday, October 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

The UN Security Council rejected Russia's Gaza resolution that did not mention Hamas.

Hamas called Tuesday's hospital explosion a "horrible massacre," saying it was caused by an Israeli airstrike.

The Israeli military blamed Islamic Jihad, a smaller, more radical Palestinian militant group that often works with Hamas. The military said Islamic Jihad militants had fired a barrage of rockets near the hospital and that “intelligence from multiple sources” indicated the group was responsible.

In a briefing with reporters, the chief army spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the army determined there were no air force, ground or naval attacks in the area at the time of the blast. He said radar detected outgoing rocket fire at the same moment, and intercepted communications between militant groups indicated that Islamic Jihad fired the rockets. Hagari also shared aerial footage taken by a military drone that showed explosions not consistent with Israeli weapons. He said the explosion occurred in the building's parking lot and noted that the death toll could not be confirmed.

Palestinians flee the Israeli bombing of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, October 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Palestinians flee the Israeli bombing of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday last October. November 17, 2023 (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Palestinians search for survivors in a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, October 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Eslaiah)

Palestinians search for survivors in a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, October 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Eslaiah)

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

Islamic Jihad dismissed those claims, accusing Israel of “trying hard to evade responsibility for the brutal massacre it committed.”

The group pointed to Israel’s order that Al-Ahli be evacuated and its previous bombing of the hospital complex as proof that the hospital was an Israeli target. It also said the scale of the explosion, the angle of the bomb’s fall and the extent of the destruction all pointed to Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinians had taken refuge in al-Ahli and other hospitals in Gaza City in past days, hoping they would be spared bombardment after Israel ordered all residents of the city and surrounding areas to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip.