Embassy Set on Fire and Stones Thrown... Outrage Across the Middle East Over Civilian Hospital Explosion

Anti-Israel Protests Erupt Across the Middle East
Youth Dies in Palestinian Demonstration
Both Sides Clash Over Responsibility for Explosion

An explosion at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip of Palestine has killed at least 500 people, sparking anti-Israel protests across the Middle East. Concerns are rising that this incident could escalate the war throughout the region by intensifying the resentment of Islamic believers against Israel.

On the 18th (local time), the Palestinian government announced that during an anti-Israel protest in the administrative capital Ramallah, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian youths. The protesters resisted by burning Israeli flags and throwing stones after authorities fired flash grenades at the crowd gathered in Ramallah's city square.

Anti-Israel protests erupted simultaneously across the Middle East, including Lebanon, T?rkiye, Jordan, and Iraq. In Lebanon, clashes between protesters and police near the U.S. embassy led police to use water cannons and tear gas.

In Jordan, armed protesters heading toward the Israeli embassy set fire to a building near the embassy before being suppressed by police. The protesters expressed their anger toward Israel, chanting, "There should be no Zionist (Jewish nationalist) embassy on Islamic land."

Protests condemning Israel also continued throughout Iran. Demonstrators marched near the French and British embassies carrying flags inscribed with slogans such as "Death to America" or "Death to Israel."

Iranian senior officials supporting the Palestinian armed faction Hamas urged citizens to fight against Israel, fueling the public outrage. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, attending a TV debate that day, condemned Israel's military actions, stating, "Every drop of blood of Palestinians who died in this war brings Israel closer to collapse."

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also called on humanity to unite against "a fake regime more hateful than the Islamic State (IS)," via social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Additionally, protests continued in Cairo, Egypt; Taiz, Yemen; Rabat, Morocco; and Tunisia.

As anti-Israel movements spread across the Middle East, both Israel and Palestine blamed each other for the explosion. Hamas labeled the incident a massacre and declared intentions to retaliate.

On the other hand, Israel claimed that the hospital explosion was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad. U.S. President Joe Biden, visiting Israel, stated during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "the hospital explosion appears to be the act of the other side (not Israel)." According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), U.S. military intelligence has reportedly gathered credible information indicating that the explosion was caused by Islamic Jihad.

U.S. military experts have expressed similar views, lending weight to President Biden's claim. Michael Knights, a security expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, analyzed that "there were no signs of airstrikes" and that no characteristics of bombs or missile attacks typically used by the Israeli military were found at the explosion site. Furthermore, experts argue that the casualty figure of 471 deaths announced by Hamas is not an accurate number.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.