Approximately 500 Palestinians were murdered in an airstrike on a hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, making it the worst occurrence in Gaza since the conflict began on October 7.
Ali Fadavi is the deputy commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran. He has warned that Israel can expect another wave of attacks from militant organizations if it keeps up its unrelenting bombardment of Gaza. The warning was issued after a significant Hamas commander was killed in an assault on a refugee camp.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel’s counterattack was a “genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” and he blamed the United States.
The Israeli military claimed it had no knowledge of the strike and that intelligence indicated a rocket fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had missed its target and struck the hospital instead.
Dozens of people and at least one high-ranking Hamas official were killed in a separate Israeli strike in central Gaza. Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza was the target of an airstrike that killed Al-Qassam Brigades leader Ayman Nofal. Officials in Gaza’s health care sector estimate that Israel’s 11-day shelling has resulted in the deaths of at least 3,000 people and the injuries of another 9,000. Israel estimates its fatality count to be higher than 1,400.
The United States has been trying to persuade Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, and these most recent attacks happened as they were making those efforts. The head of Israel’s National Security Council, Tzahi Hanegbi, has stated that the release of over 200 captives held by Hamas is a condition for the admission of supplies.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden planned to travel to the area to join other international leaders to keep the fight from escalating into a wider regional conflict. During diplomatic efforts to construct safe zones within the besieged enclave, King Abdullah II of Jordan closed down the possibility of permitting Palestinian refugees escaping northern Gaza into his nation or Egypt, labeling it a “red line.”
