Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
Paper Talk: Hundreds dead after Gaza hospital hit
The ongoing crisis in the Middle East continues to dominate the front pages. Wednesday’s newspapers led with the bombing of a hospital, in which up to 500 people are feared dead. Both Hamas and Israel blame each other for the bombing.
The hospital not only was treating people from the attacks but was also housing people sheltering from the air strikes.
A Gaza school was also hit in the latest round of Israeli strikes.
‘Hospital horror’
The Daily Express says hundreds of Palestinians are feared dead after a “massive explosion tore through” a hospital in the Gaza Strip.
The Guardian says the building was packed with people injured by previous air strikes and others seeking shelter from Israel’s bombardment.
According to the Times, the strike was caught on camera. The paper notes that it is the deadliest such incident in the history of conflict between Israel and its neighbours.
The Daily Mirror reports the Middle East crisis is spiralling with the headline “This Must End.” “Who is to blame?” asks the Daily Mail as it highlights both Israel – and what the paper ‘Gaza militants’ – offering competing explanations for the blast.
The Daily Telegraph says President Joe Biden is due to arrive at the war’s ‘most dangerous point’ and reports that PM Rishi Sunak will also visit Israel on Thursday.
The paper reports the bombing will raise fears that Iran will enter the conflict and cites reports saying the US is considering military strikes on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which is backed by Iran.
‘Biden and Sunak head to Middle East’
The Times’ editorial reports Biden is returning the US to a ‘mire’ in the Middle East – where successive US governments have become bogged down in fruitless attempts to promote peace.
The Sun leads on a picture of a ransacked bedroom in a house in southern Israel, where a British woman and her daughter were killed by Hamas. The paper’s reporter describes the scene as a “horror house” littered with bullet casings and the remains of the family dog still inside the living room. A grieving relative tells the Sun the images will “tell the world what the terrorists did”.
The Financial Times reports that Sir Keir Starmer is facing a mutiny from Labour councillors who are demanding the party change its stance on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The paper says pressure from council leaders, Muslim party members and those of the left wing came after Sir Keir gave – according to the paper – his unqualified support for Israel to defend itself in the wake of the massacres by Hamas.
