Outrage over Gaza hospital deaths, protests roil West Asia amid blame game

As charges flew thick and fast and condemnation of the incident poured in from across the world, especially from outraged capitals of the region where protests raged, US President Joe Biden flew into Tel Aviv and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show solidarity with Israel over its war against Hamas. He appeared to have backed Netanyahu on Israel’s claim that the explosion at the hospital was a result of a misfired rocket by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

(The Associated Press news agency quoted Biden telling Netanyahu: “Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.” But he said there were “a lot of people out there” who weren’t sure what caused the blast. “The entire world was rightfully outraged but this outrage should be directed not at Israel but at the terrorists,” Netanyahu said during a subsequent meeting with Biden and Israel’s war cabinet. Biden had also been scheduled to visit Jordan to meet with Arab leaders Wednesday, but the summit was called off after the hospital explosion. The Reuters news agency said an urgent meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was taking place in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too reacted to the Gaza hospital incident. “Deeply shocked at the tragic loss of lives at the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza. Our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, and prayers for speedy recovery of those injured.”

“Civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict are a matter of serious and continuing concern. Those involved should be held responsible,” he said in a post on X – this was perceived as a message to both Israel and Hamas.

His remarks were in line with the statement earlier by the Ministry of External Affairs whose spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said there was an universal obligation to observe international humanitarian law, and also a global responsibility to fight the menace of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

As it drew condemnation from Iran, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and others, Israel presented what it called additional evidence indicating that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was responsible for the blast.

The Gaza hospital incident has deepened the fault lines between the Arab world and Israel, and also within Israeli society.

Jonathan Spyer, a Jerusalem-based analyst who is director of research at the Middle East Forum, said, “The Hamas attack was unprecedented and Israel has responded against the murderous, jihadi organisation. Hamas has always made it clear that it is not possible to co-exist with Israel.”

On the hospital incident, he said there was emerging evidence that there had been much less damage, and the blast took place at the hospital’s parking lot and that it was a result of a rocket misfired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Spyer said that those who believed the claims of “a murderous outfit” showed “enormous bias”.

On the fault lines between the Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs, he said they have to be “concerned” on the issue of co-existence since 20 per cent are of Arab ethnicity. “There has been gratifyingly little or no incident of any Israeli Jew targeting fellow compatriots of Arabian-origin. So far, there has been no such misguided vengeance, since there is a general sense of solidarity and of a national mission that needs to be completed,” he said.

Dr Tareq Abu Hamed, an Israeli Arab and a resident of southern Israel, who heads the Arava Institute, said that despite the atrocities of Hamas, there is no substitute for dialogue.

“We will all have a very difficult time overcoming this trauma. We all hope that this war will end very soon. Both sides are suffering. No one wins in a war, civilians on both sides are suffering and dying. The only way to stop this cycle of violence, this cycle of war is to have dialogue, build understanding, and build trust in order to get the just peace that we are all looking for,” he said.