Schumer seethes ‘world blamed Israel unfairly’ for Gaza blast
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer lashed out Wednesday at governments, media outlets and supporters of the Palestinian cause who he said blamed Israel “unfairly” for Tuesday’s explosion outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip.
US officials said Wednesday that their analysis shows that the Jewish state was not responsible for the blast outside the Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital.
However, those statements came almost exactly 24 hours after initial reports by multiple media outlets, citing the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, claimed an Israeli airstrike had killed hundreds at the facility — prompting outrage across the Middle East and elsewhere.
“This is what Israel is up against,” Schumer (D-NY) told representatives of the Jewish Democratic Council of America during a Zoom call. “Israel didn’t put out a statement immediately because they were checking. They wanted the truth. Hamas immediately said, ‘Oh, the [Israel Defense Force] did it.’ They lied through their teeth!”
“For six hours, the world blamed Israel, unfairly,” Schumer added. “Now the word is getting out. And I think all of us have an obligation to get that truth out.”
Schumer added that he “regrets the loss of any life, any innocent life” in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Images of the blast site Wednesday morning showed a damaged parking lot, though the hospital itself appeared intact.
Hamas claimed up to 500 people were killed in the explosion, a count that has not been independently confirmed.
The IDF has published intercepted audio of members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad suggesting the detonation was the result of a misfired rocket.
Islamic Jihad is the second-largest terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.
“They are saying this was Islamic Jihad,” one terrorist said in the clip, according to an IDF translation. “It seems that it was from us, yes.”
During the discussion, the terrorists surmised that the missile remnants were “local pieces, and not Israeli shrapnel,” per the translation.
IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari claimed that an Islamic Jihad rocket launched at 6:50 p.m. local time failed in flight and caused the blast, which he said occurred at 6:59 p.m. local time.
“According to our intelligence, Hamas checked reports, and itself understood that it was an Islamic Jihad rocket [that] misfired and decided to launch a global media campaign to hide what happened,” Hagari said.
The initial reports of an Israeli airstrike triggered protests in cities including New York and Berlin. Riots also broke out in the Middle Eastern cities of Amman, Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, Doha and Istanbul.
Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) also ripped Israel following the initial reports.
“Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that. @POTUS this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help de-escalate,” Tlaib posted on X Tuesday.
“Bombing a hospital is among the gravest of war crimes. The IDF reportedly blowing up one of the few places the injured and wounded can seek medical treatment and shelter during a war is horrific. @POTUS needs to push for an immediate ceasefire to end this slaughter,” Omar wrote an hour later.
Both posts were still up as of Wednesday evening.
A spokesman for Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Omar and Tlaib posts.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel killed more than 1,400 people, including 30 Americans.
Another 13 are unaccounted for and some are being held hostage by Hamas.
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