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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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The post Israeli military says Palestinian rocket struck Gaza hospital where hundreds were reported killed appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.