MOSCOW, 17 Oct. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that the attack on the hospital in the Gaza Strip will forever remain “a stain on the conscience of humanity.”
Earlier, a representative of the Gaza Ministry of Health said that the attack on the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital in the Gaza Strip was carried out by Israel, more than 500 people were killed. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning for the victims. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, most of the dead were women and children. At the same time, the Israeli television channel i24 reports that the initial investigation by the Israeli Army showed that the explosion in a hospital in the Gaza Strip was caused by a failed Hamas rocket launch.
“The cold-blooded massacre carried out by the Israeli occupying forces against hundreds of Palestinian civilians who took refuge in the Baptist Hospital (Al-Ahli Hospital) in Gaza City will forever remain a stain on the conscience of humanity, which witnessed the horrors committed against the Palestinian people without taking any action to stop it,” says a message on the department’s page on the social network X.
The Foreign Ministry also called on the UN Security Council to “condemn and put an end to this massacre and insane impunity.”
On the morning of October 7, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented-scale rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, announced by the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement. In addition, after massive rocket attacks, the organization’s fighters penetrated into the border areas in southern Israel. In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Within days of the attack, the Israeli military took control of all settlements near the Gaza border and began conducting air strikes on targets, including civilians, in the strip. Israel also announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip: the supply of water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel was suspended.
The number of victims in the Gaza Strip exceeded 2 thousand people, and the death toll of Israeli residents exceeded a thousand; several thousand Israelis and Palestinians were injured. Several dead and missing Russians, as well as citizens of other countries, were reported. According to various sources, Hamas may hold about 150 Israelis captive.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the parties to stop hostilities. According to the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the settlement of the Middle East crisis is possible only on the basis of a “two-state” formula approved by the UN Security Council, which provides for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, related to the territorial interests of the parties, has been a source of tension and clashes in the region for many decades. A UN decision with the active role of the USSR in 1947 determined the creation of two states — Israel and Palestine, but only the Israeli one was created. Israel, while declaring agreement with the two-state principle, did not completely liberate the Palestinian territories.