A massive blast at a hospital in Gaza city left hundreds of people dead on Tuesday, leading to widespread criticism and protests in West Asia, Reuters reported.

While the authorities in Gaza said that an Israeli air strike caused the explosion, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.

The blast took place at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital. The hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, is owned and operated by a branch of the Anglican Communion, which is one of the largest Christian groups globally. It is independent of any political factions, the BBC reported.

About 6,000 people who were displaced because of the ongoing fighting had taken shelter in the hospital’s courtyard at the end of last week, Canon Richard Sewell, one of the communion’s top figures in Jerusalem, told the BBC.

A civil defence chief in Gaza said that 300 persons were killed in the attack. However, the region’s health ministry put the number of fatalities at around 500. The toll was by far the highest in a single incident in Gaza during the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The health ministry said on Wednesday that rescue workers were still pulling out bodies from the rubble.

Videos from the hospital showed a fire engulfing the building and the surrounding grounds strewn with bodies, according to the Associated Press.

Late on Tuesday, Gaza’s health ministry held a press conference at the hospital, with doctors standing among the victims’ bodies.

“We were performing surgery at the Baptist hospital when a strong explosion occurred and the ceiling fell on the operating room...,” Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Ghassan Abu Sitta, a doctor associated with non-governmental organisation Doctors Without Borders, as saying. “This is a massacre.”

The Palestinian Authority’s health minister Mai Alkaila also accused Israel of carrying out a massacre at the hospital. Islamic Jihad denied Netanyahu’s claims about its involvement and accused Israel of “trying hard to evade responsibility for the brutal massacre it committed”.

The Israeli prime minister cited “intelligence from multiple sources” to assert that a failed rocket launch by the militant group led to the blast at the hospital.

“An analysis of IDF [Israel Defense Forces] operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit,” Netanyahu claimed.

The Israel Defence Forces published drone footage on Wednesday that it claimed proves that the blast at the hospital’s parking lot was not caused by its air strike, which it said, “would have left a crater and not a burning parking lot and shrapnel-pocked roofs”.

The purported drone video showed the hospital’s parking lot, where the blast had caused a large fire, seemingly having no crater. “Israeli strikes generally leave large holes in the ground,” the Israeli forces said.

When asked about Netanyahu’s comments, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, alleged that the Israeli forces struck the hospital speculating that a Hamas base was present around it.

“[Netanyahu] is a liar,” Mansour told reporters. “His digital spokesperson tweeted that Israel did the hit thinking that there is a base for Hamas around this hospital, and then he deleted that tweet. We have a copy of that tweet... Now they changed the story to try to blame the Palestinians.”

Further, he claimed, “The Israeli spokesperson of the Army, about a week ago, made a statement in which he said evacuate the hospitals, the hospital are targets. In fact, they hit one hospital a week ago... So, their intention is to evacuate or hospitals will be hit and they are responsible for that crime and they cannot fabricate stories to deal with it.”

In other parts of Gaza, air strikes killed dozens of civilians and at least one senior member of Hamas, according to AP.

Richard Hecht, Israel’s military spokesperson, said that the country was preparing for the next stages of war. “We haven’t said what they will be,” he said. “Everybody’s talking about a ground offensive. It might be something different.”

Protests erupted against the air strike in a number of major cities across West Asia and northern Africa, some devolving into confrontations with security forces.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II said that the bombing of Gaza hospital was a “massacre” and a “heinous war crime that cannot be ignored”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply shocked” at the loss of lives at the hospital in Gaza.

“Our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, and prayers for speedy recovery of those injured,” Modi said in a social media post on Wednesday. “Civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict are a matter of serious and continuing concern. Those involved should be held responsible.”

Left parties in India also condemned the attack, reported PTI. “The bombing of a Gaza hospital late last night that has killed at least 500 Palestinians needs to be called out for what it is – a war crime,” said the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)-New Democracy, a breakaway from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), called for a protest against the bombing from October 18 to October 21.

The World Health Organization also condemned the attack on the hospital. “The hospital was operational, with patients, health and care givers, and internally displaced people sheltering there,” it said in a statement.

The organisation said that the hospital was among 20 in northern Gaza facing Israeli military’s evacuation orders.

“The order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced,” it added. “Evacuation orders must be reversed. International humanitarian law must be abided by, which means health care must be actively protected and never targeted.”

On October 13, Israel had ordered civilians in Gaza to evacuate and only return when the military makes another announcement allowing them back. This came six days after Hamas, which controls Gaza, launched a multi-pronged attack. In response, Israel declared a siege on Gaza and launched a series of air strikes. It also stopped water, fuel and power supplies to Gaza.

At least 2,329 Palestinians have been killed since the war broke out, while the toll on the Israeli side stood at 1,300.

Biden visits Israel, meeting with Arab leaders cancelled

United States President Joe Biden arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and met Netanyahu. “Based on what I have seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden told the Israeli prime minister. “But there are a lot of people out there, I am not sure...”

An unidentified White House official said that Biden was only travelling to Israel and has postponed his visit to Jordan, AP reported.

This came after Jordan cancelled a summit slated for Wednesday in the capital city of Amman amid mounting anger over the deaths at the Gaza hospital. During the summit, Biden was scheduled to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that his country would host the summit only when everyone agreed on a common purpose to “stop the war, respect the humanity of the Palestinians and deliver the aid they deserve”.

For several decades, the United States has strongly supported Israel’s stand in the conflict and has extended military assistance to it.

On October 10, Biden reiterated his country’s stance as he said: “The United States has Israel’s back. We will make sure the Jewish and democratic State of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow, as we always have.”

Biden also said that Hamas “does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination” and that the group uses Palestinian civilians as human shields.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah called for a “day of rage” on Wednesday to condemn the attack on the hospital. “Move immediately to streets and squares to express intense anger,” the ally of Hamas said in a statement.