Israel at war: Iran proxy Hezbollah fuels region’s ire

Despite evidence that Israel did not blow up the hospital in Gaza, Israel’s enemies are using the tragedy to rally hatred.

Lebanese security forces clash with protesters outside the US Embassy in Awkar east of Beirut on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

The Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah has fuelled fears of a wider Middle Eastern war by stepping up its attacks on Israel as thousands took to the streets across the region for a second day to denounce Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

The rising tensions came despite further evidence from the Israeli Defence Forces that the explosion at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City that killed dozens and sparked the protests, was caused by a misfired rocket from Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

It follows a visit to Israel by Joe Biden in which the US President announced $US100m in aid to help civilians in Gaza and West Bank and secured a commitment from Israel to allow food, water and medicine into Gaza to ease a growing humanitarian crisis.

Mr Biden used the visit to offer unconditional support for Israel in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, but also urged Israelis not to let anger cloud their judgment at this emotional time after 1400 of their countrymen were murdered by the terror group.

“Hamas committed atrocities that recall the worst ravages of ISIS, unleashing pure unadulterated evil upon the world. There is no rationalising it, no excusing it. Period. The brutality we saw would have cut deep anywhere in the world, but it cuts deeper here in Israel,” the President said.

“But I caution this: While you feel that rage, do not be consumed by it.”

He said Americans had made mistakes after 9/11 because of the rage they felt. “The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas,” Mr Biden said. “The Palestinian people are suffering greatly, as well.”

Ahead of what is expected to be a major Israeli ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah has stepped up its attacks on Israel, saying it had launched six attacks on military posts at the border using guided missiles, machine guns and mortars.

State television in Iran also threatened that new fronts would be opened against Israel and showed a map of the country surrounded by Iran-backed militia groups.

The Iranian-backed terror group has kept the world guessing about whether it will launch a major attack on Israel at a time when Israeli forces are preparing an assault on Gaza.

Hezbollah called for a “day of rage” at what it claimed was Israel’s role in bombing the hospital in Gaza. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters chanted “Death to America! Death to Israel!” at a rally in Beirut as a senior Hezbollah offi­cial claimed Israel would “try to target more hospitals” in its campaign in Gaza.

Protesters also gathered for anti-Israel protests across the ­region, with demonstrations in the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen and Iran.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the blast at the hospital was “the latest example of Israeli attacks devoid of the most basic human values”.

The claim came despite the IDF providing more evidence that Israel did not fire the rocket that destroyed the hospital which, according to Gaza authorities, killed 471 people. Experts told the Wall Street Journal that the death toll was more like 50.

The US backed Israel’s claim, saying a separate analysis by the US military suggested a militant group, not Israeli forces, fired the rocket that hit the hospital. Mr Biden said his reason for blaming “the other team” for the explosion was “the data I was shown by my Defence Department”.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Islamic Jihad fired 10 rockets at 6.59pm local time and one of the rockets fell prematurely, hitting a parking lot outside the hospital.

He said Israeli forces were not firing anything at that time.

“According to our intelligence, Hamas checked the report, understood it was an Islamic Jihad rocket that had misfired, and decided to launch a global media campaign to hide what really happened,” he said. “They went as far as inflating the numbers of casualties.”

He also played a recording of what he said was an intercepted conversation between two Hamas members, in which one admits that the damage was caused by a rocket fired by Islamic Jihad from a cemetery near the hospital.

Rear Admiral Hagari said the damage was caused by flammable rocket propellant rather than an explosive warhead.

Under the agreement to supply humanitarian aid to Gaza, Egypt will initially allow 20 trucks carrying aid to enter through its border with Gaza. Mr Biden said the aid was meant for civilians and if Hamas militants intercepted it, the aid would be cut off.

A humanitarian crisis has been steadily worsening in Gaza since Israel cut off water, food and fuel supplies to the territory following the attacks by Hamas, which killed more than 1400 Israelis.

Israel has also pounded Gaza with airstrikes in preparation for a ground offensive in Gaza. The Gazan Health Ministry on Wednesday said 3478 people had been killed in Gaza since October 7.