Children and woman crying following the Zionist massacre at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, October 17, 2023. Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Palestinian authorities reported that an air strike by the Israeli entity hit the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in the center of Gaza City. The spokesperson for the Gaza Ministry of Health, Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra, stated that more than 500 people have lost their lives in the attack on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
More victims and injures are expected as rescue operations continue. “Hundreds of victims are still under the rubble,” reported Palestinian health authorities after the strike perpetrated this Tuesday, October 17.
The spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority called the attack on a hospital in Gaza a “genocide” and a “humanitarian catastrophe.” He explained that the majority of the 500 dead were babies, children, and women. The hospital was housing families amid the ongoing genocidal bombardment of Gaza by the apartheid state.
In one airstrike, lsrael killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians who were seeking shelter at a hospital’s yard in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/x2GagJwBUl
— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) October 17, 2023
A United Nations spokesperson reported earlier that an airstrike by the Israeli entity had hit a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school where at least 4,000 people were sheltering. The agency said six people were killed and dozens were injured by the strike.
Hours earlier, local Palestinian authorities reported that the number of fatalities in the besieged Gaza Strip had risen to 3,000 since the new escalation of the conflict between the Zionist apartheid regime and the Palestinian Resistance began 10 days ago.
Palestinian Civil Defense reported that the attack on the hospital is the deadliest Israeli airstrike in the five wars that Gaza has suffered since 2008. “The massacre at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital is unprecedented in our history,” spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said. “We have witnessed tragedies in past wars and days, but what took place tonight is tantamount to genocide.”
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Occupation entity evading responsibility
Unsurprisingly, spokespersons for the Israeli entity have attempted to deflect responsibility for the massacre onto the Palestinian Resistance. Statements issued by occupation entity spokespersons, bolstered by a campaign on social media platforms, have spread the false claims. However, even mainstream media in the West agree that the attack was carried out by the Zionist regime.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military said that, after analyzing its operational systems, they saw that “an enemy rocket barrage” aimed at Israel was passing the hospital at the time of the strike and blamed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group for the strike.
This post was deleted, probably because it was too honest about the state and its leaders' genocidal intent. https://t.co/YwWuRZNtgK pic.twitter.com/4LedYtT9vr
— Nick Estes (@nickwestes) October 17, 2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “barbaric terrorists” in Gaza had attacked the Gaza hospital, not Israel’s military. These uncorroborated statements came only a few hours after he had deleted a social media post inciting hate: “This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle,” read the Netanyahu post that was later deleted.
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International condemnation
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement strongly condemning the attack and remarking that the bombed hospital is among 20 hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders by the occupation forces.
WHO statement on attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital and reported large-scale casualties
WHO strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. The hospital was operational, with patients, health and care givers, and internally displaced people… pic.twitter.com/iduiD0pA3q
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) October 17, 2023
“WHO calls for the immediate active protection of civilians and health care,” reads the statement. “Evacuation orders must be reversed. International humanitarian law must be abided by, which means health care must be actively protected and never targeted.”
#Cuba condena en los términos más enérgicos el bombardeo perpetrado por Israel contra el Hospital Al Ahli en Gaza que ha provocado cientos de muertos y heridos. Demandamos un cese al fuego inmediato y poner fin a estas violaciones flagrantes del Derecho Internacional humanitario.
— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) October 17, 2023
The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, condemned the Israeli bombardment of the hospital in Gaza and demanded an immediate ceasefire: “Cuba condemns, in the strongest terms, the bombing perpetrated by Israel against the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza that has caused hundreds of deaths and injuries. We demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to these flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.”
On Monday, October 16, in an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, a Russian resolution proposing a humanitarian ceasefire was rejected by France, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, despite being supported by China, Gabon, Russia, Mozambique, and the United Arab Emirates. Regretfully, Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana, Malta, and Switzerland abstained from voting.
#Comunicado Venezuela expresa su más enérgica condena ante la masacre ejecutada por el Estado de Israel al bombardear el Hospital Árabe Al Ahli en Gaza, causando la muerte de más de 500 personas.
El gobierno Bolivariano exige un cese al fuego y poner fin inmediato a estos… pic.twitter.com/b3juk3sdxE
— Yvan Gil (@yvangil) October 17, 2023
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil released an official statement by the Venezuelan government condemning the massacre. “Venezuela expresses its strongest condemnation of the massacre carried out by the state of Israel by bombing the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, causing the death of more than 500 people,” the statement read. “The Bolivarian government demands a ceasefire and an immediate end to these flagrant attacks on human rights as well as reestablishing the rights of the Palestinian people and determining responsibilities for these crimes against humanity.”
إن الجمهورية العربية السورية تعتبر أن ما أقدمت عليه قـ.ـوات الإجـ.ـرام الصـ.ـهيونية في عـ.ـدوانها على مستشفى المـ.ـعمداني بقطـ.ـاع غـ.ـزة يشكل واحدة من أبشع المـ.ـجازر ضد الانسانية في العصر الحديث، وأكثرها دمـ.ـويةً. pic.twitter.com/VKQLpeDcQp
— Syrian Presidency (@Presidency_Sy) October 17, 2023
The Syrian government also condemned the massacre via a statement: “The Syrian Arab Republic considers what the Zionist criminal forces did in their aggression against Al-Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip constitutes one of the most heinous and bloodiest crimes against humanity in the modern era.”
Türkiye’s President Erdogan on Israel’s deadly air strike on Gaza's Al Ahli hospital:
– Israeli attack targets hospital with women, children & innocent civilians inside
– It’s latest example of Israel's aggression devoid of most basic human values
– I invite all humanity to take… pic.twitter.com/FQznmGQYyp— TRT World (@trtworld) October 17, 2023
In the same vein, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye issued a statement condemning the attack: “Israeli attack targets hospital with women, children, and innocent civilians inside. It is the latest example of Israel’s aggression, devoid of the most basic human values… I call on all humanity to take action to stop this unprecedented brutality in Gaza.”
Outrage ignites protests
The genocidal nature of the Zionist bombing elicited indignation and rage worldwide. A few hours after news of the massacre spread on social media platforms, massive protests took place in Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, and Lebanon, with protesters gathering outside Israeli diplomatic missions. In Lebanon, protesters set fire to the US embassy in Beirut, while protesters in Jordan set the israeli embassy on fire.
The Israeli embassy in Jordan is on fire… pic.twitter.com/Jp1nWRgRMC
— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) October 17, 2023
Palestinian Resistance and Hezbollah hold US responsible, say resistance will continue
Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of Hamas, held the United States responsible for the massacre. “Those who committed the massacre at the Al-Maamdani Hospital are the same ones who committed the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the same ones who carried out the Bahr Al-Baqar school massacre, who killed the prisoners of the Egyptian army, and who violated all human-known values on this planet,” Haniyeh said in a statement. “This massacre’s responsibility lies with this enemy who attacked a hospital, mosque, and church in the same place. The responsibility is also on the Americans who provided unlimited cover for this enemy to commit these massacres.”
“These are war crimes. This is a genocide,” he continued. “The responsibility lies with those who provided cover in the Security Council and refused to condemn this occupation and aggression.” Haniyeh stressed that the resistance will continue and “will not stop until this occupier leaves our land and our sanctities.”
Further, he called upon all Palestinians as well as “all free people of the world” to condemn the massacre. “I call upon our Palestinian people everywhere, in the steadfast West Bank, in Al-Quds, and in 1948, to come out now in all cities and streets,” he said. “I call upon all the people of the Arab and Islamic nations to come out now in condemnation of this massacre, this brutality, these crimes… I call upon all the free people of the world, the United Nations, the Security Council, the UN General Assembly, human rights and legal institutions. I also call upon the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to clearly and explicitly condemn this horrific massacre.”
Similarly, the Palestinian socialist resistance faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), condemned the “war of genocide and ethnic cleansing” and emphasized that Palestinians will remain steadfast despite the horrific losses.
PFLP Deputy General Secretary Jamil Mezher, stated in an interview with Al Mayadeen that “the Zionist enemy committed a heinous massacre in the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, which claimed the lives of hundreds of martyrs, children, women, and the elderly, in an attempt to subjugate our people, force them to surrender, and displace them through bombing and destruction.”
“And we say to this criminal enemy: no matter how many bloody massacres you commit, our people will not leave,” he said. “We will remain steadfast in our land and will not leave it, no matter how heavy the sacrifices are.”
Mezher also considered the United States responsible for the crimes of the Zionist state, and called on the Arab heads of state to “boycott the US administration, expel its military bases, and close its embassies in the region.” He called on “the free peoples around the world in solidarity with the Palestinian people to escalate their struggle against the Zionist enemy, the US government, and the colonial powers in Europe that are partners in this aggression against our people.”
The Lebanese Islamic resistance group Hezbollah also held the US responsible for the bombing of the Gaza hospital. “The United States of America bears direct and full responsibility for this massacre and for every crime committed by the Zionist enemy,” Hezbollah declared in a statement.
The organization added that “condemnation and denunciation statements are no longer sufficient,” and called on “the peoples of our Arab and Islamic nation to take immediate action to move to the streets and squares to express their extreme anger and pressure the governments and countries wherever they may be.”
The statement also called on regional and international multilateral organizations to “take immediate action against the massacres and genocide of the oppressed Palestinian people and the implementation of forced displacement under the weight of massacres, terrorism, and murder.”
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/DZ/SL/SC/BLA
