ISTANBUL, (AA): The Israeli bombing of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday was widely condemned by Arab and Muslim states.
Official statements were issued by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran and Libya condemning the attack, which claimed the lives of more than 500 Palestinian civilians according to the latest statements by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said it “condemns, in the strongest terms, the heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces by bombing Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including children, (and) wounded and injured people.”
The statement stressed that it “categorically rejects this brutal attack” and called on the international community to cease dealing with double standards when it comes to “Israeli criminal practices.”
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry described the bombing of the hospital as “a brutal massacre and a heinous crime against defenseless civilians.”
It also said it was “a blatant violation of the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law.”
“The expansion of Israeli attacks in Gaza to include civilian targets, including hospitals, schools and population centers, is considered a dangerous escalation in the course of confrontations and portends dire consequences for the security and stability of the region,” it added.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry expressed its denunciation and condemnation of the targeting of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, stressing that what happened was a “war crime.”
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the Israeli bombing of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
It stressed that “the deliberate bombing of civilian facilities and targets is a serious violation of the provisions of international and humanitarian law and the most basic values of humanity.”
The Algerian Presidency also condemned the “deliberate attack on the hospital in Gaza by the occupation forces.”
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati also condemned the act, which led to the fall of “hundreds of martyrs in the Baptist Hospital in Gaza as a result of an Israeli crime” and denounced “the global conscience that is silent about injustice.”
In Libya, the head of the National Unity Government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, said the targeting of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza “by the Israeli occupation forces is a brutal crime.”
Earlier Tuesday, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, told Anadolu that more than 500 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli bombing.
An Israeli army has rejected the accusations saying it was Islamic Jihad that hit the hospital.
As part of a confrontation with the Palestinian Hamas group and other factions, Israel continued for an 11th day launching intensive raids on Gaza and cutting off water, electricity, food and medicine to the Strip. This sparked local and international warnings of a double humanitarian catastrophe in parallel with intense Israeli raids and arrests in cities and towns of the occupied West Bank.
According o Palestinian Health Authority 3,500 Palestinians have been killed including 1,300 children, 12,500 wounded. Israeli army said 1,400 Israelis have been killed, including 302 soldiers.
[Photo: Palestine Injured Palestinians taken to Al-Shifa Hospital following Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza on 17 10 23. Photojournalist Ali Jadallah/AA]
