GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories – Hundreds of people were killed in a blast at a Gaza City hospital on Tuesday, with conflicting claims of who was responsible.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, has blamed Israel for the blast.

Israel says it was a result of a failed rocket launched by Islamic Jihad, another militant group in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel’s military said on Wednesday that it has seen no evidence of a direct hit by aerial munitions.

Chief Israeli military spokesman, Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari, noted an investigation has “confirmed that there was no IDF (Israel Defence Forces) fire from the land, sea or air that hit the hospital”.

He said there was no structural damage to buildings around the Al Ahli Arab Hospital and no craters consistent with an air strike.

Asked to explain the size of the explosion at the site, he said it was consistent with unspent rocket fuel catching fire.

“Most of this damage would have been done due to the propellant, not just the warhead,” he said.

Rear-Adm Hagari noted that some 450 rockets fired from Gaza had fallen short and landed inside the Strip within the last 11 days.

“We have intelligence about communication between terrorists talking about rockets misfiring,” he said, without elaborating.

The chief spokesman also accused Hamas of inflating the number of casualties from the explosion, and said the militant group could not know as quickly as it claimed what caused the blast.

In the first hours after the blast, a Gaza civil defence chief said 300 people had been killed, while Health Ministry sources put the figure at 500.

Palestinian ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said rescuers were still recovering bodies.

Reuters could not independently verify who was responsible for the blast or how many people were killed.

But the incident triggered protests in the occupied West Bank and in the wider region, including in Jordan and Turkey.

The scenes of destruction from the hospital were horrific even by the standards of the past 12 days, which have confronted the world with relentless images, first of Israelis slaughtered in their homes and then of Palestinian families buried under rubble from Israel’s retaliatory strikes.

Before Tuesday’s blast, the health authorities in Gaza said at least 3,300 people had been killed as a result of Israel’s bombardment.

It began after Hamas’ Oct 7 rampage on southern Israeli communities in which more than 1,400 people were killed and around 200 taken into Gaza as hostages.

Tuesday’s blast took place on the eve of a visit by United States President Joe Biden to Israel.

His trip is aimed at showing support for the country in its war with Hamas and to hear how Israel plans to minimise civilian casualties. One US aim is to prevent the conflict from spreading.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Biden said: “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 added: “The world is looking. Israel has a value set like the United States does, and other democracies, and they are looking to see what we are going to do.”

Regardless of who is found responsible for the explosion, which Hamas said had killed patients, and others left homeless by Israeli bombardment, it will complicate efforts to contain the crisis.

In one sign of this, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi cancelled a summit his country was to host in Amman with Mr Biden and the Egyptian and Palestinian leaders.

In another sign, Palestinian security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protesters in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah who were throwing rocks and chanting against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as popular anger boiled.

The blast drew condemnation across the Arab world and protests were staged at Israel’s embassies in Turkey and Jordan, and near the US Embassy in Lebanon, where security forces fired tear gas towards demonstrators.

Television footage showed protests in Yemen’s south-western city of Taz, as well as in the Moroccan and Iraqi capitals.

The outpouring of anger against Israel also fuelled a large rally on Tuesday near the Israeli Embassy in Amman.

Police used tear gas to disperse several thousand protesters who chanted slogans in support of Hamas and demanded the government close the embassy and scrap a peace treaty with Israel.

Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel is widely unpopular among many citizens, who see normalisation as a sell-out of the rights of their Palestinian brethren.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group denounced what it said was Israel’s deadly attack on the hospital in Gaza, run by the Anglican Church, and called for “a day of unprecedented anger” against Israel and Mr Biden’s visit.

There were competing claims and denials from Israeli and Palestinian officials over who was responsible.

Palestinian President Abbas said that targeting the hospital was a “hideous war massacre”, adding that “Israel has crossed all red lines”.

Mr Netanyahu blamed Palestinian militants for the explosion.

“The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF,” he said. “Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children.”

Mr Daoud Shehab, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, denied his group was responsible.

“This is a lie and fabrication, it is completely incorrect. The occupation is trying to cover for the horrifying crime and massacre they committed against civilians,” he told Reuters.

Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyehi also said that the hospital massacre confirmed the enemy’s brutality and the extent of his feeling of defeat, adding that the attack will be a “new turning point”.

During the last Israeli-Hamas conflict in 2021, Israel said Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups fired around 4,360 rockets from Gaza of which around 680 fell short of Israel and into the Gaza Strip.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it strongly condemned the attack on the hospital, which was operational, with patients, caregivers and internally displaced people sheltering there.

“The hospital was one of 20 in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

“The order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced,” said WHO.

It called for the immediate active protection of civilians and healthcare workers, and for evacuation orders to be reversed.

“International humanitarian law must be abided by, which means healthcare must be actively protected and never targeted.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was horrified by the deaths of hundreds of people in a strike on a hospital in Gaza, as Israel and Palestinians traded blame over who was responsible.

“Hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law,” Mr Guterres wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Before travelling to China to attend the Belt and Road Forum, Mr Guterres said that he had appealed to Hamas for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, and to Israel to allow immediate unrestricted access to humanitarian aid for Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a post on X, condemned the attack and said: “All the light must be shed on the circumstances.

“Humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip must be opened back without delay.” REUTERS