By enabling Israel’s brutality, the US is ultimately responsible for the bombing of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has declared.
Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau in Gaza, said that the bombing would “constitute a turning point” in his group’s struggle against the Jewish state.
“The Americans who gave unlimited cover bear responsibility for the Baptist (Hospital) massacre. Whoever supports Israel is responsible for its violations in Gaza,” he said in a televised statement on Tuesday night.
“The hospital massacre confirms the enemy’s brutality and the extent of his feeling of defeat,” Haniyeh continued, adding that “this massacre will constitute a turning point and a flood added to the flood of Al-Aqsa,” referring to the name of Hamas’ ongoing operation against Israel.
Russian President Vladimir #Putin said on Wednesday that the lethal attack on a hospital in the #Gaza Strip is a ‘tragedy and catastrophe’.https://t.co/1Iodm7nmGA pic.twitter.com/klZTqdHsYt
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 18, 2023
The Christian-run Al-Ahli Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, was destroyed in an Israeli missile strike on Tuesday.
Some 471 Palestinians were killed and more than 314 wounded in the strike, the Palestinian Health Ministry stated on Wednesday, calling the attack “an Israeli massacre.”
At the time of the strike, Israeli warplanes had been conducting continuous airstrikes on Gaza for over a week. Throughout this time, American officials have expressed solidarity with Israel and pledged increased military aid to the Jewish state.
Speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden claimed that the attack “was done by the other team, and not by you.”
#US President Joe #Biden has told #Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu that he believed Tel Aviv’s assurances that it was not responsible for the strike on al-Ahli Hospital in #Gaza City on Tuesday night.https://t.co/9qda52b1T1 pic.twitter.com/uGeQXAYAf7
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 18, 2023
Biden explained that he visited Israel “for a simple reason – I want the people of Israel and the people of the world to know where the US stands.”
The hospital’s destruction sparked protests and riots across the Muslim world and led Jordan to cancel a planned summit between Biden and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
(RT, PC)
