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Israeli military says Palestinian rocket struck Gaza hospital where hundreds were reported killed
(JTA) — Israel has concluded that an explosion at a Gaza City hospital that reportedly killed hundreds of people was the result of an errant rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terror group in Gaza.
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority both blamed Israel for the blast at al-Ahli hospital, which the Palestinian Red Crescent Society emergency services group said had caused the deaths of hundreds among the thousands sheltering in the building.
A planned summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and several Middle East leaders was canceled and riots broke out in the West Bank and Jordan after the explosion.
Rockets fired from Gaza often fall short, landing inside the Palestinian territory. Security footage from the Israeli side and video posted by Al Jazeera both appeared to show a failed rocket causing an explosion in Gaza as a volley streaked through the night sky toward Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had reviewed multiple sources of information, including its intelligence systems, before determining the source of the rocket.
“It is clear that the IDF did not strike the hospital in Gaza,” it said in a statement that also said 450 rockets had fallen within Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. “The hospital was hit as a result of a failed rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.”
Surveillance camera footage from Netiv Haasara shows a large barrage of rockets being launched from northern Gaza, followed by a massive blast in the Strip, apparently caused by a failed projectile. pic.twitter.com/PdNCbks02r
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 17, 2023
An Al Jazeera broadcast documented the moment that the Islamic Jihad launched a rocket which misfired and hit a hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds. pic.twitter.com/ypZTdJobzk
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) October 17, 2023
The deadly blast further drove up tensions in the war, as Israeli troops appeared to prepare for a possible ground invasion of Gaza, international condemnation of Israel piled up and fears spiked of a wider conflagration in the Middle East.
The explosion swiftly drew condemnations and, in some places, protests against Israel. Dozens of rioters targeted the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan. Riots also broke out in Palestinian areas of the West Bank, Hebrew media reported.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of national mourning for the victims, the Palestinian Wafa news agency said. Abbas also canceled a planned meeting with Biden, multiple reports said, citing Palestinian officials. And the Jordanian foreign minister reportedly announced that a summit including Biden, Abbas, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah has been called off.
The European Union, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Arab League, Jordan, and the head of Amnesty International all decried the blast.
The World Health Organization said it “strongly condemns the attack,” without directly blaming Israel.
Israel has long maintained that it does not target civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, and an IDF spokesperson told Fox News on Tuesday that hospitals are “not an IDF target.” It has also charged that Hamas, which controls Gaza, operates its military operations out of civilian buildings including hospitals.
“The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement posted to X. “Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children.”
Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,400 Israelis, capturing about 200, and sparking the war between Israel and Gaza terror groups. Over 2,600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its counter-offensive, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.