Furious Protests Sweep Arab Countries Following Devastating Gaza Hospital Blast

Israel faced widespread condemnation and anti-Israel protests erupted throughout the Middle East and North Africa on Tuesday. Arab leaders criticized Israel as a result of an explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, believed to have claimed the lives of numerous individuals who were seeking refuge there.

Palestinian officials swiftly pointed fingers at Israel for the incident, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied the accusation. They instead blamed Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants for a "failed rocket launch," stating that the absence of structural damage at the hospital refutes the possibility of an airstrike.

Islamic Jihad denounced the Israeli accusations as unfounded and without merit, firmly stating that they do not employ public establishments like hospitals for military objectives, as stated in a released written statement on Wednesday. CNN lacks the ability to verify the explosion's origin independently.

Several Arab nations, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, released statements denouncing Israel and alleging that its military was responsible for the bombing of the hospital.

In the meantime, numerous demonstrators rallied in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, and Tunisia, vehemently expressing their opposition to Israel through anti-Israel chants. The occupied West Bank city of Ramallah also experienced significant protests.

Fury over the bloodshed in Gaza has been intensified by the blast at the hospital, which is located in the coastal enclave. Gaza is home to 2.2 million people and has been under siege by Israel for over a week as a response to a large-scale terror attack conducted by Hamas in Israel on October 7.

People gather in Tahrir Square to protest the Gaza hospital blast in Baghdad, Iraq, on October 17.

Murtadha Al-Sudani/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

On Tuesday evening, a large number of protesters assembled near the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan. One faction attempted to approach it, but were swiftly handled and removed by security personnel, as reported by a reliable source to CNN. Additionally, tear gas was deployed by Jordanian security forces to disperse the demonstrators, as confirmed by two activists and multiple videos shared on social media.

Similarly, in Lebanon, a considerable crowd gathered in the square leading to the US embassy located north of Beirut on Tuesday. The protesters endeavored to breach the security barriers, as witnessed by a CNN team present at the scene. However, the rather chaotic situation had subsided by the early hours of Wednesday, according to Ben Wedeman, a CNN correspondent. It is worth noting that earlier on Tuesday, the US State Department issued a travel warning advising American citizens against traveling to Lebanon.

Protesters in Baghdad, Iraq, also voiced their disapproval of Israel with slogans. According to security officials in the city, a group of demonstrators tried to pass over a bridge that connects to the Green Zone, where Iraqi government authorities and numerous embassies, including the US embassy, are located. However, security forces successfully halted their progress.

Protesters wave Palestinian flags while climbing the US embassy fence in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 17.

Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

In Iran, protests were held outside the French and British embassies in Tehran, the capital of the country. Demonstrators were captured in a video published by the state-run RNA news agency chanting "death to France, England, America, and the Zionists." Similar rallies occurred in Esfahan and Qom, among other cities.

According to the state-run TAP news agency, hundreds of people gathered in various locations in Tunis, Tunisia. The agency reported that "mass protests were held on Tuesday night" as a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people and in opposition to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

Turkish security forces in Istanbul deployed water cannon and pepper spray to disperse protesters who successfully accessed the compound housing the Israeli consulate. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan made a plea on X (formerly known as Twitter) urging "all humanity" to act against the unparalleled violence in Gaza. Additionally, he condemned the assault on the hospital as yet another illustration of Israel's disregard for fundamental human principles.

The explosion led to the cancellation of a scheduled Wednesday summit in Jordan between US President Joe Biden and the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority, a governing body with limited self-governance in the West Bank.

On X, Ayman Safadi, Jordan's Foreign Affairs Minister, expressed, "To what extent must innocent Palestinians lose their lives for Israel to cease its onslaught on Gaza?"

Safadi urged for peace, emphasizing that international law should not be selective, and insisting that the world should take a clear stance and act promptly against this war.

Despite the IDF's denial of targeting hospitals, both the UN and Doctors Without Borders have reported Israeli airstrikes hitting medical facilities, including hospitals and ambulances.

Hospitals in the region were already facing challenges in providing medical care to the injured due to limited access to electricity and water resources.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, responsible for supervising and financing the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital, expressed strong condemnation for the explosion.

The diocese criticized the lack of safe spaces in Gaza and described the blast as a crime against humanity. According to the statement, hospitals are supposed to be sanctuaries under international humanitarian law, but this attack has violated that sacred principle.

The IDF provided visual evidence on Wednesday indicating that the destruction of the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital was not caused by an airstrike. Reporting by CNN's Ben Wedeman in Beirut, Aqeel Najim in Baghdad, Adam Pourahmadi, and Kareem Khadder.