Amman:

Jordan has canceled a meeting with US President Joe Biden and other regional leaders scheduled for Wednesday in protest over a hospital attack that killed at least 500 people in Gaza.

Early on Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas canceled his attendance at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday in Amman, Jordan, with US President Biden, Jordan's King Abdullah II, and Egypt's president to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Later, Jordan called off the summit, announcing the decision on state-run media and citing the conflict between Israel and Hamas as pushing the region to the brink. Officials linked to Hamas claimed that an Israeli airstrike killed hundreds of people at a Palestinian hospital on Tuesday, while the Israeli government said a terrorist group was responsible for the destruction.

Meanwhile, both Israel and Hamas exchanged blame over the deadly hospital blast in Gaza. 

Hamas has blamed the Israeli military for the Tuesday airstrike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. The Hamas Health Ministry said at least 500 were killed. However, denying the Hamas claim the IDF said the hospital was not targeted or hit by an Israeli missile. According to the Israeli Defence Forces, an investigation into the incident revealed it was a failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad, a less-known and more radical Palestinian militant organization that frequently works with Hamas. Like Hamas, Islamic Jihad is funded and supported by Iran.

The IDF said the rocket was fired from Gaza and was in close proximity to the hospital at the time it was hit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the hospital bombing. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Netanyahu said the person who cruelly killed our children also killed his own children. The Islamic Jihad is said to have launched a missile that accidentally hit the hospital.

"The Palestinians are falsely claiming Israel targeted a hospital in the Gaza Strip," the ministry stated. "The thing is, they’re the ones who have a habit of launching missiles at hospitals packed with innocent civilians."

The Israeli Prime Minister responded to claims made by Hamas and Palestinian sympathizers that the IDF deliberately attacked the hospital because it was filled with injured patients and people looking for safety.

"The whole world knew: The barbarian terrorists in Gaza are the ones who attacked the hospital in Gaza, not the IDF," he concluded.