US President Joe Biden, who is currently visiting Israel, told the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the blast at a hospital in Gaza “appears as though it was done by the other team, not you”.
“The point is, is that I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion of the hospital in Gaza yesterday, and based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” he told Netanyahu after his arrival in Israel on Wednesday (October 18, 2023) as quoted by CNN.
The Israeli military said that the killing of hundreds of people at a hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement posted on social media X that from the analysis of IDF operational systems, an enemy rocket barrage was carried out towards Israel, "which passed through the vicinity of the hospital when it (the hospital) was hit" by a rocket.
"Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza," the military added.
Palestinian media reported that at least 500 people were killed in the "Israeli airstrikes", while the Palestinian Authority announced three days of mourning, Xinhua news agency reported.
Earlier, local eyewitnesses told Xinhua that a rocket hit the hospital, causing massive destruction.
They rushed to the place a few minutes later and saw hundreds of bodies scattered on the ground, sources told Xinhua.
According to the Gaza-based Health Ministry, the hospital was housing hundreds of sick and wounded patients and sheltering thousands of displaced civilians who were forced to flee their homes due to constant Israeli attacks.