By Athena Papakosta

Hundreds are dead and injured after the attack on the center of Gaza and the Al-Ahli hospital which was full of sick, wounded and civilians who had taken shelter there due to the ongoing shelling. Palestinians blame the Israeli army, but Israel denies responsibility, attributing the bombing to a “failed strike” by Islamic Jihad.

We are in the 12th day of the war between Israel and Hamas, the day the president of the United States lands in Israel. The deck is shuffled again. It is a volatile and difficult time for the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The reactions in the Arab world are fierce.

Jordan canceled the quadripartite meeting in Amman in which the President of the United States, Joe Biden, the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, King Abdullah of Jordan and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, would participate. The cancellation of the Summit was announced by the Jordanian Foreign Minister and demonstrates the criticality of the situation.

At the same time, the president of Egypt condemned the attack, stressing that this is a “clear violation of international law”. Iran’s foreign ministry blamed Israel and said “unarmed and defenseless people were killed and injured”. Syria called the attack “one of the most heinous and bloodiest massacres against humanity”, Saudi Arabia called it a “heinous crime”, Jordan’s King Abdullah called it a “war crime” and Qatar spoke of a dangerous escalation .

For his part, the President of the Palestinian Authority is returning to the West Bank where demonstrations and incidents have erupted. He has already declared three days of national mourning, speaking of “disgusting carnage of war” meanwhile, incidents also broke out outside the Israeli embassy in Jordan and elsewhere.

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, directly blames Israel and underlines that “the attack on a hospital where there were women, children and innocent civilians is the latest example of Israel’s attacks, far from the most basic human values” and calls “all humanity to take action to stop this unprecedented barbarity in Gaza.”

Meanwhile, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Ismail Haniya, blames the United States, underlining that Washington gave Israel “the cover for its aggression”. He even called on all the Palestinian people “to come out and face the occupation and the settlers”.

The president of the United States arrives early in the morning in Tel Aviv where he will meet with the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. However, his trip to Jordan is cancelled.

As it became known from the White House, the American president spoke with both the Jordanian King Abdullah and the Israeli Prime Minister stressing that “the United States strongly supports the protection of civilians in the midst of conflicts and we mourn that patients, medical personnel and other innocents have been killed or injured in this tragedy”.

“An attack on civilian infrastructure inconsistent with international law,” had declared after the conclusion of the informal European Council on the situation in the Middle East, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

The carnage unfolded as Washington tried to persuade Israel to allow supplies to desperate civilians as well as aid groups and hospitals in besieged Gaza.

The images from the Al-Ahli hospital, which belongs to the Anglican Church, give birth to terror.

Fire is engulfing the site with bodies of even small children lying at the site. Around them are blankets, school bags and other personal belongings.

Many of those injured are being taken to the collapsing Al-Sifa hospital with the doctors to beg for equipment and medicine while the generators still have a few hours left to run due to the minimum available fuel.

The dead and injured are in the hundreds, while many are said to be trapped under the ruins.

The outburst of anger in the Arab world is huge and the new facts of the ongoing conflict are becoming even more so, giving rise to concern for the next day.