Good afternoon. An outpouring of anger against Israel is sweeping the Middle East over an explosion at an Anglican-run Gaza hospital that has killed between 300 and 500 people, while Israel blamed Hamas and Islamic Jihad for the blast.
Protests have erupted across the Middle East, including several tense gatherings outside US, British and French embassies. Palestinian authorities, numerous regional states and Médecins Sans Frontières blamed Israel for the blast, but Israel denied responsibility – first blaming a failed Hamas rocket launch and then saying it was the result of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket barrage. Islamic Jihad rejected the Israeli allegation, and as noted by our correspondent Bethan McKernan, the scale of the blast appears to be outside the militant groups’ capabilities.
