Hundreds of people, including the sick, wounded, and forcibly displaced from their residences, were being accommodated at Al Ahli Baptist Hospital….reports Asian Lite News
The Arab Nations have strongly condemned the alleged Israeli attack that targeted Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip resulting in the death of at least 500 people and injury of several others.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its deep regret for the loss of life and conveys its condolences to the families of the victims, wishing a swift recovery for all those injured.
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The Ministry also stressed the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and to ensure that civilians and civilian institutions are not targeted. The Ministry further underlined the importance of the protection of civilians, according to international humanitarian law, international treaties for the protection of civilians and human rights, and the need to ensure that they are not targeted in conflict.
The UAE called on the international community to intensify efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of life, to avoid further fuelling the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, and to advance all efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just peace, while preventing the region from being pulled into new levels of violence, tension and instability.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also condemned the attack. The Secretary-General of the OIC Hissein Taha called the attack a “war crime” and a “crime against humanity.”
Taha held the Israeli occupation accountable for its crimes, terrorist practices, and brutal attacks against the Palestinian people, which contradict all human values and constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
The Muslim World League (MWL) also denounced the act “in the strongest terms.”
MWL chief Sheikh Abdulkarim Al-Issa denounced in a statement this “brutal crime that devoids its perpetrators of all religious and human values, calling on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards protecting civilians from these horrific massacres.”
Condeming the attack in the “strongest terms”, Saudi Arabia termed the attack “brutal” and called it “a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms, including international humanitarian law,” according to foreign ministry.
The ministry also denounced Israel for its “continuous attacks against civilians despite many international appeals” to stop.
“This dangerous development forces the international community to abandon double standards and selectivity in applying international humanitarian law when it comes to Israeli criminal practices. It requires a serious and firm stance to provide protection for defenseless civilians,” a ministry statement said.
The Kingdom also stressed the necessity of opening safe corridors immediately to deliver food and medicine to civilians trapped in Gaza, and said it holds Israeli forces fully responsible for their continued violation of all international norms and laws, the Arab News reported.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a statement on Tuesday, saying: “I condemn in the strongest of terms Israel’s bombardment” on a hospital in Gaza, and calling it a “clear violation of intl law.”
Kuwait on Tuesday “strongly condemned and denounced the Israeli occupation forces’ barbaric airstrike on the Baptist Al-Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of innocent civilians were killed,” the state news agency said.
“The occupation forces targeting of hospitals and public facilities is a violation of the International Humanitarian Law,” a statement by the foreign ministry said.
Qatar’s foreign ministry also issued a statement in which it strongly condemned the Israeli airstrike saying, “the expansion of Israeli attacks over the Gaza Strip to include hospitals, schools, and other population centers is a dangerous escalation.”
Jordan’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Tuesday strongly condemning the Israeli attack. King Abdullah said Israel’s bombing of the Gaza hospital was a “massacre” and a “war crime” that one cannot be silent about.
Israel Denies Responsibility
The Israel Defence Forces on Wednesday posted a video on social media which included multiple shots showing the deadly Gaza hospital explosion, saying it was caused by a “failed rocket launch” and not an airstrike.
The IDF posted the 30-second video on X and said : “A failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization hit the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City.
“IAF (Israel Air Force) footage from the area around the hospital before and after the failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation.”
Using images showing fire damage to several vehicles in the hospital parking lot, the IDF video suggests that a fire broke out at the hospital as the result of the failed rocket launch, reports CNN.
The IDF added that there were no visible signs of craters or significant damage to buildings that would result from an airstrike.
Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said the “first packet of information” was “evidence that clearly supports the fact that it could not have been an Israeli bomb”.
“There was no collateral or significant damage to the buildings around it. No crater, and nothing that is similar to locations where Israeli bombs have struck.”
Conricus also acknowledged that the IDF was slow to release information because it took hours for the Israeli military to “investigate and get to the bottom of the situation”.
The Islamic Jihad movement however, has denied Israel’s assertions that a failed rocket launch was responsible, claiming that it does not use public facilities such as hospitals for military purposes.
In a statement published on Wednesday , the group called the Israeli accusations as “false and baseless”.
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