'Sanction Israel,' Iran urges Islamic countries as Gaza hospital strike fuels fire in Middle East

Iran, which has been backing Hamas, on Wednesday asked the Islamic nations to sanction Israel and expel Israeli ambassadors as tensions rise in the Middle East over the attack on a hospital in Gaza. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that the Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should sanction and implement an oil embargo on Israel and expel Israeli ambassadors, according to Reuters. An urgent meeting of the OIC has been called in the Saudi city of Jeddah for Islamic countries to discuss the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

Also Read: 'Hamas committed atrocities that make ISIS look more rational,' says Biden in Israel

A strike at a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of civilians including children has sparked fire in the Middle East, with many Islamic countries erupting in protests blaming Israel. However, Israel has denied any role in the strike and said that the attack was caused by Islamic Jihad, one of two militant groups in Gaza. Israel said that a rocket fired by the group malfunctioned and hit the hospital. 

Also Read: Israel-Hamas war: 'Refuse to donate another dollar,' say major University Pennsylvania donors; here's what happened

US President Joe Biden, who is currently in Israel, said that it appeared that the attack was done by the other team, not Israel. "But some people are not sure," Biden said about Tuesday's deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital.     

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) shared a video and intercepted calls of what they called terrorists to back the claim that the attack was carried out by the Islamic Jihad. "A failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization hit the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City," the IDF said in a tweet. 

Sharing the intercepted calls, the IDF said: "Islamic Jihad struck a Hospital in Gaza—the IDF did not. Listen to the terrorists as they realize this themselves."

Meanwhile, protests have erupted in many Islamic countries like Turkey and Lebanon against the US and Israel. Israel's Haaretz reported that the police in Istanbul prevented protesters from storming the Israeli consulate overnight after the blast at the hospital in Gaza. The report said that more than 60 people, most of them police officers, were injured early Wednesday after a group targeted the consulate building with stones, sticks, and fireworks, the Istanbul Governor's Office said.