Israel-Hamas war Highlights: Gaza blast stirs protests in Middle East & Washington

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said that the Hamas attacks “do not justify collective punishment of Palestinians”.

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday condemned the attack on Gaza hospital. “I’m horrified by the loss of life at Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza. My thoughts are with those who lost loved ones. It is imperative that innocent civilians be protected and international law upheld. Together, we must determine what happened. There must be accountability,” he wrote on X.

US President Joe Biden is heading to Israel today to signal support for its war against Hamas.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Gaza hospital explosion incident and said that he is "horrified" by the killings of Palestinian civilians. “I am horrified by the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in a strike on a hospital in Gaza today, which I strongly condemn. Hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law,” the UN wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A former Associated Press videojournalist Yaniv Zohar who covered conflicts and major news in his native country for three decades, was killed in his home during Hamas' bloody cross-border rampage on October 7 along with his wife and two daughters.

Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli towns and cities, and on October 7 sent hundreds of gunmen across the border from Gaza. They attacked and killed civilians - including children and elderly people - in their homes and neighbourhoods and kidnapped scores of others. According to experts, the evidence of crimes is clear.

Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour on Wednesday called Israeli PM Netanyahu a ‘liar’ for saying that the Islamic Jihad is responsible for the Gaza hospital attack that killed at least 500 people.

“He is a liar. His digital spokesperson tweeted that Israel did the hit thinking that there was a base for Hamas around this hospital, and then he deleted that tweet. We have a copy of that tweet... Now they changed the story to try to blame the Palestinians. The Israeli spokesperson of the Army made a statement in which he said evacuate the hospitals...Their intention is to evacuate or hospitals will be hit and they are responsible for that crime and they cannot fabricate stories to deal with it,” he said.

The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on a Brazilian-drafted resolution on Wednesday that calls for humanitarian pauses in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas to allow humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) shared a video of a rocket reportedly aimed at Israel being misfired and exploding at 6:59 pm. The IDF claimed that it was the same moment when the airstrike hit a hospital in Gaza.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday visited Israel amid the war with Hamas and met the relatives of German hostages held by Hamas in Tel Aviv. Scholz said the German government would do whatever it could to secure the hostages' release.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Tuesday deleted a post in which Netanyahu said the struggle (between Israel and Hamas) is between the children of light and the children on darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle. Read more here

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has reported that the Israeli Air Force jets recently launched targets in Lebanon. The terrorist infrastructure and an observation post that was attacked, belonged to the organisation Hezbollah, in response to the firing of anti-tank missiles at Israeli territory and other incidents in the border area in the last day.

On the deadly strike on hospital in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “The entire world should know - It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF. Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children.”

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari on Wednesday blamed the Islamic Jihad for the Gaza hospital strike that killed around 500 people. “I can confirm that an analysis by the IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, at the time it was hit. Intelligence from a few sources indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza,” he said.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he was "outraged" by the explosion at a Gaza hospital that killed about 500 people and said he had directed his national security team to gather information about exactly what had happened.

“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted. The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict and we mourn the patients, medical staff, and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy,” the statement read.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday spoke with King Abdullah of Jordan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel after a deadly hospital attack in Gaza left hundreds dead, the White House said. Reportedly, Biden was also briefed on the attack by his national security team and spoke over the phone with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.