Israel Allows Egypt to Deliver Aid to Gaza Amid Fury Over Hospital Blast Killings

US President Joe Biden, who landed in war-torn Israel on Wednesday, said the Gaza hospital explosion appeared to be the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza. Hours after Biden's statement, the United States has now assessed that Israel was not responsible for the bombing.

In a statement, White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said, "The US government assesses that Israel was not responsible for an explosion that killed hundreds of civilians yesterday at the Al Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Our assessment is based on available reporting, including intelligence, missile activity, overhead imagery, and open-source video and images of the incident."

There were conflicting claims about who was behind the explosion on Tuesday night, but protests flared quickly in the region as many Arab leaders said Israel was responsible. Hamas officials in Gaza quickly blamed an Israeli airstrike, saying hundreds were killed. Israel denied it was involved and released a flurry of video, audio and other information that it said showed the blast was instead due to a rocket misfire by Islamic Jihad, another militant group operating in Gaza. Islamic Jihad dismissed that claim.