U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday pledging solidarity in its war against Hamas and backing its account that a blast that killed huge numbers of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital had been caused by militants.

U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday pledging solidarity in its war against Hamas and backing its account that a blast that killed huge numbers of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital had been caused by militants.

The fireball that engulfed the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital delivered some of the most harrowing images yet from a 12-day war, and wrecked White House plans for Biden’s emergency diplomatic mission to the Middle East, with Arab leaders calling off their planned summit with the U.S. president.

Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli air strike for the blast, which it said had killed as many as 500 people. Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 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.”

  • BabyWah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    94·
    1 year ago

    Haha, really good source, read their blogs and you can see why and how they’re trying to shift the narrative.

    As a European, I don’t believe anything the US says anymore. Not after decades of deception and disinformation from them.

    • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
      95·
      1 year ago

      Publisher of a claim has no relevance to whether the claim is true or not. A source being biased does not mean that everything they say is false.

      Here’s the BBC, if you like them better.

      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67144061

      Based on available evidence, it appears the explosion happened in a courtyard which is part of the hospital site. Images of the ground after the blast do not show significant damage to surrounding hospital buildings. What the images do show includes scorch marks and burnt-out cars.

      BBC Verify has shown the evidence to a number of weapons experts, some of whom say it is not consistent with what you would expect from a typical Israeli airstrike.

      J Andres Gannon, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University, in the US, says the explosion appears to be small, meaning that the heat generated from the impact may have been caused by leftover rocket fuel rather than an explosion from a warhead.

      Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) in the UK, agrees. While it is difficult to be sure at such an early stage, he says, the evidence looks like the explosion was caused by a failed rocket section hitting the car park and causing a fuel and propellant fire.

      And the cause of the tragedy is this:

      Canon Richard Sewell, the dean of St George’s College in Jerusalem, told the BBC that about 1,000 displaced people were sheltering in the courtyard when it was hit, and about 600 patients and staff were inside the building.

      I agree that we don’t know for sure yet. but I don’t think it can be denied that a plausible story is that a failed rocket crashed into this courtyard that had hundreds of people gathered in it, igniting the rest of the fuel and causing a large explosion.

      Or maybe the IDF really did decide to just bomb a hospital courtyard. That’s plausible, though seems unlikely to me, personally.

      • BabyWah@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        I truly believe Israel did the hit, and the narrative is being shifted around now because they knew they went too far and international backlash might not be in their favour. We’ll find out eventually.

        It’s not about plausibility anymore, they want to turn Gaza into a parking lot, these people are talking about mowing the grass every few years so that explains why the majority of Palestinians is underage.

        But you’re right, I might be biased. Both sides have extremist that are willing to do anything for their cause, but one side has been pushed to the brink with no way out. I’m really not surprised this breeds terrorists/freedom fighters who’d rather die than live like a dog.

        I can only think about the civilians on both sides that died. Children are dying and the next generation of terrorists/freedom fighters/orthodox extremists are being made right as we speak. This cycle of violence has no end.

        And nobody even mentions the hostages anymore. It’s kids paying the price while old white men talk and talk.

        I’m really emotional so not a good place to speak from, and will be reading and following less news the coming weeks, just for my mental health. I don’t want to live in this world anymore.