Israel conflict latest: Gaza death toll exceeds 3300, say Palestinian ...

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian president, charged that Israel’s tight siege of Gaza was aimed at pushing the Palestinians there to move into Egypt.

“We see that what is happening is not just a concern to direct military action against Hamas but also an attempt to push civilians to seek refuge and migrate to Egypt,” he said.

Speaking alongside Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz, he said that moving Palestinians into the Sinai would simply mean “shifting the idea of resistance and fighting from Gaza to Sinai, and therefore Sinai becomes a base for operations against Israel.”

In that case, Israel could direct strikes at Egypt.

He warned the conflict could not be settled militarily or by pushing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank into Egypt and Jordan.

US president Joe Biden told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “it appears it was done by the other team, not you”, as the IDF blamed Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad for Tuesday’s blast at the Al-Ahli hospital.

Biden said he was “deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza”, during a press conference with Netanyahu immediately after his arrival in Israel on Wednesday.

“Based on what I’ve seen it appears it was done by the other team, not you [Israel],” he said. “But there’s a lot of people out there who are not sure, so we have to overcome a lot of things.”

Biden called for “life saving capacity to help the Palestinians who are innocent, caught in the middle of this”.

The IDF said that a misfired rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Gaza-based militant group, is responsible for the explosion at a hospital in the strip that Palestinian authorities said has killed “hundreds”.

Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said an IDF probe concluded that a rocket launched from a cemetery near the hospital just prior to the explosion had misfired and crashed into a parking lot adjacent to the hospital, where civilians may have been taking shelter. The rocket warhead, coupled with its propellant fuel, then ignited, causing the explosion.

“We would have seen craters and structural damage on the building [of the hospital]. [This] hasn’t been identified in this incident,” Hagari said, noting imagery was inconsistent with the use of Israeli munitions.

The IDF also released cellphone audio purportedly containing a conversation between “Hamas operatives” that acknowledged the failed rocket launch.

The Financial Times could not independently verify any of the IDF’s claims or the explosion’s death toll.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “horrified” by the images of an explosion in a hospital in the Gaza Strip in which hundreds are believed to have been killed.

“Innocent civilians were injured and killed. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims,” he wrote on X. “A thorough investigation of the incident is imperative.”

Israeli and Palestinian authorities blamed each other for the strike on the hospital, located in the northern part of the strip that is subject to Israeli evacuation orders. The World Health Organization said the attack was “unprecedented”.

A spokesperson for UN secretary-general António Guterres issued a statement on the explosion at Al-Ahli hospital on Tuesday:

The Secretary-General condemns the strike . . . on Al Ahli Anglican Episcopal Hospital in Gaza, with preliminary reports of hundreds killed and many others wounded, including women and children.

He also condemns the attack on an UNRWA school earlier today in Al-Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza which killed at least six people.

The Secretary-General extends his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a swift recovery to those injured.

He emphasizes that hospitals, clinics, medical personnel, and UN premises are explicitly protected under international law.

Posting on X, Guterres called for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East to ease the epic human suffering”.

Palestinians and Israelis blamed each other for the explosion at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday that is feared to have killed hundreds of people, escalating tensions across the region as US president Joe Biden is due to arrive in Israel.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry said 200 people had been killed in what it said was an Israeli air strike on Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City

The Israel Defense Forces said the explosion was caused by a misfired rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group in Gaza, and that it would provide proof

Jordan cancelled a summit at which Biden had been due to meet the Jordanian and Egyptian leaders, as well as the president of the Palestinian Authority

Muslim countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia blamed the hospital blast on Israel, as did Jordan’s King Abdullah, who called it a “massacre” and a war crime

A US national security spokesman said Biden would ask “tough questions” to understand Israel’s objectives when he meets prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday

Hamas said on Tuesday that 200 to 250 hostages were being held following its attack last Saturday

The latest casualty figures, before Tuesday’s explosion, were 1,400 Israeli dead, according to Israeli officials, and more than 3,000 dead in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials

Jordan cancelled a summit at which US president Joe Biden was to meet the Jordanian and Egyptian leaders, as well as Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, a Jordanian official has said.

“After consulting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, President Biden will postpone his travel to Jordan,” a White House official said.

“The President sent his deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the hospital explosion in Gaza, and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded.”

Turkey has criticised Israel after the explosion at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday, accusing the country of launching a “barbaric attack” against civilians. 

The Turkish foreign ministry said late on Tuesday that the country is “deeply indignant that hundreds of Palestinians lost their lives and many more were injured as a result of the targeting of a hospital in Gaza today, and we condemn these barbaric attacks in the strongest terms”. The statement came after president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the incident in Gaza “the latest example of Israel’s attacks [which are] devoid of the most basic human values.” 

The explosion at the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City ignited protests across several cities in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country of 85mn people.

Israel says its intelligence shows Islamic Jihad, an Islamist militant group also based in Gaza, was responsible for the explosion.

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak is planning to visit Israel as soon as Thursday in a bid to underline Britain’s support for the nation. 

He is expected to meet Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanhayu, who is hosting talks with US president Joe Biden in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

Sunak’s trip, first reported by Sky News, is still in the planning stage and could be delayed, according to people familiar with the matter.

Last week James Cleverly, the UK foreign secretary, travelled to Israel for discussions with senior leaders and to meet survivors of Hamas’ attack.