U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday pledging solidarity in its war against Hamas and backing its account that a blast that killed huge numbers of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital had been caused by militants.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday pledging solidarity in its war against Hamas and backing its account that a blast that killed huge numbers of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital had been caused by militants.
The fireball that engulfed the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital delivered some of the most harrowing images yet from a 12-day war, and wrecked White House plans for Biden's emergency diplomatic mission to the Middle East, with Arab leaders calling off their planned summit with the U.S. president.
Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli air strike for the blast, which it said had killed as many as 500 people. Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.
Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: "I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion of the hospital in Gaza yesterday, and based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you."
A photo outside the hospital shows some scorched concrete and burnt cars, but no crater or anything you'd really expect from a military bomb. The IDF also supplied intercepted audio of Hamas fighters discussing a botched missile launch:
“I am telling you this is the first time we see a missile like this falling, and so that’s why we are saying (the rocket) belongs to Palestinian Islamic Jihad…,” says one of the alleged Hamas members.
“It’s from us?'” asks the second.
“It looks like it…,” replies the first. “They are saying that the shrapnel from the missile is local shrapnel and not like Israeli shrapnel.”
“It couldn’t have found another place to explode?” asks the second.
“They shot it from the cemetery behind the hospital,” says the first, “and it misfired and fell on them.”
There is also evidence that there was a barrage of rockets fired at around the same time.
Naturally this is from the IDF, who aren't unbiased. Speaking only for myself though, I really can't possibly imagine what Israel would stand to gain from doing this.
There's too much conflicting evidence for me to be able to say at this point. Has there been news on the supposed Al Jazeera recording of the event that shows an internal launch?
Actually a lot of the OSINT community has come out and vetted much this version (example) but go ahead and tell us how you not being aware of any evidence means it doesn’t exist
Here’s more further confirming it was not an air strike:
“I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion of the hospital in Gaza yesterday, and based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.”
about as bad as the nfl refs lately
explosion is a fucking hell of a way to describe a bombing
Just like he saw the picture of 40 beheaded babies, son died in Iraq, drove an 18 wheeler, convinced Strom Thurman to pass voting rights act and civil rights act, was raised in synagogues, etc, this guy is a liar.
Because the indiscriminate bombings that kill civilians makes people want to join terrorist organizations because they have no other recourse for their families being murdered?
Jesus Christ Joe. You fucked over Anita and now you're on to fucking over a country because you can't find your spine with both hands a doctor providing instruction.
People spending too much time on the specific of who to blame for a hospital strike instead of the hundreds of kids that already died or injured due to to attacks on heavily populated closed areas.
GAZA/TEL AVIV, Oct 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday pledging solidarity in its war against Hamas and backing its account that a blast that killed huge numbers of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital had been caused by militants.
Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: "I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion of the hospital in Gaza yesterday, and based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you."
Biden's trip to the Middle East was supposed to calm the region, even as he demonstrated U.S. support for its ally Israel, which has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement whose fighters killed 1,400 Israelis in a rampage on Oct. 7.
The scenes of destruction from the hospital were horrific even by the standards of the past 12 days, which have confronted the world with relentless images, first of Israelis slaughtered in their homes and then of Palestinian families buried under rubble from Israel's retaliatory strikes.
The U.S. State Department issued a new warning to Americans not to travel to Lebanon, where border clashes between the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and Israel over the past week have been the deadliest since the last all-out war in 2006.
But he is under intense pressure to win a clear Israeli commitment to alleviate the plight of civilians in the Gaza Strip, where 2.3 million Palestinians are under total siege, with no access to food, fuel, water or medical supplies.
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