Anadolu staff
October 18, 2023•Update: October 18, 2023
ISTANBUL
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the blast which saw more than 500 people killed at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza was not caused by Israeli airstrikes.
"Based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you," Biden said during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, evidently referring to Israeli claims that Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group with aims similar to Hamas, was responsible.
"There’s a lot of people out there that are not sure, so we have got to overcome a lot of things,” added the president, who arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a hastily arranged visit amid the conflict with the Palestinian group Hamas.
Biden also pledged more support to Israel in its ongoing conflict with Palestinians, which sparked into open warfare 12 days ago.
It should be ensured that Israel has “what you need to continue to defend yourselves,” Biden said, reiterating his theme that Israel has the right to self-defense.
“We are going to make sure that occurs, as you know,” he told Netanyahu.
“We also have to bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all Palestinian people,” Biden said, also claiming the group “has always brought them suffering.”
On Tuesday, in a statement, Biden said he was “deeply saddened by the explosion" at the hospital.
More than 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Anadolu.
Footage on social media showed corpses scattered across the hospital grounds.
Thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, were at the hospital when the building came under bombardment, according to an Anadolu reporter.
Rebutting Israeli claims that Islamic Jihad, Hamas, or another Palestinian group was responsible for the blast, the Turkish government’s Center for Combating Disinformation late Tuesday pointed to forensic evidence from the explosion as well as Israeli warnings that it would target hospitals, claiming that fighters were taking shelter there.
Twelve days into the conflict with resistance group Hamas, Israel's bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip continued, with over 1 million people displaced — almost half of Gaza's total population, according to the UN agency for Palestine refugees or UNRWA.
The fighting began on Oct. 7 when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers
The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip
To date, more than 4,700 people have been killed in the armed conflict, including at least 3,300 Palestinians and more than 1,400 Israelis.
