Biden lands in Israel as hospital blast sparks outrage
US President Joe Biden touched down in Israel on Wednesday for a diplomatic scramble to prevent the war with Hamas from spiraling into an even larger conflict, a challenge that became more difficult as outrage swept through the Middle East over an explosion that killed hundreds in a Gaza Strip hospital. Biden was originally scheduled to visit Jordan as well, but his meetings with Arab leaders were called off as he was leaving Washington. Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli air strike for the huge blast and fireball which engulfed the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital. Israel denied responsibility and said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame. Biden's trip to the Middle East was supposed to calm the region, even as he demonstrated US support for its ally Israel, which has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement whose fighters killed 1,300 Israelis in a rampage on Oct 7. But after the hospital blast, Jordan cancelled the crucial second half of Biden's itinerary: a planned summit in Amman with the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority to shore up aid to Gaza and avert wider war. The scenes of destruction from the hospital were horrific. Rescue workers scoured blood-stained debris for survivors. A Gaza civil defence chief gave a death toll of 300, while health ministry sources put it at 500. Palestinian ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said rescuers were still pulling bodies from the rubble. Israel released drone footage of the scene of the hospital explosion, which it said showed it was not responsible because there was no impact crater from any missile or bomb. The Israeli military also published what it said was an audio recording of "communication between terrorists talking about rockets misfiring". But Palestinians were convinced the explosion was an Israeli attack, which they said came with no warning on a hospital that was being used as a shelter by thousands of Gazans already made homeless by Israeli bombing. The blast unleashed new fury on streets across the Middle East. Palestinian security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse anti-government protesters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, seat of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, one of the Arab leaders who cancelled meeting Biden. Protests also erupted at Israel's embassies in Turkey and Jordan and near the US embassy in Lebanon, where security forces fired tear gas toward demonstrators. Countries and international officials around the world denounced the blast. (Agencies) _____________________________
Last updated: 2023-10-18 HKT 16:34 