Austria demands investigation into Gaza hospital attack

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has stressed the need to find out who was to blame for the missile strike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

“The shock at the report of rocket fire on the al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, with hundreds killed, runs deep. In the face of the inhuman pain suffered by civilians, our sympathy belongs to the families of the victims and the injured,” Caliber.Az quotes the president as saying in a post on his X page on October 18.

Van der Bellen said hospitals and medical staff must be protected in line with international humanitarian law.

“In order to clarify who is responsible for this missile strike, an independent investigation into the events must now follow quickly,” the president added.

On October 17, a massive blast occurred at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza killing over 800 people of Palestinians.

The Hospital was sheltering thousands of displaced people when it was bombed. Many victims are still under the rubble.

Palestinian officials blamed ongoing Israeli airstrikes for the lethal incident. But the Israel Defense Forces has “completely” denied any involvement in the hospital attack, blaming instead a “failed rocket launch” by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, a rival Islamist militant group in Gaza.