Israel-Gaza conflict: 5 key developments on Wednesday 18 October

Tensions in the Middle East were at boiling point today as US president Joe Biden landed in Israel following a deadly rocket blast at a Gaza hospital that local officials said had left hundreds dead.

The blast, which both Hamas and Israel denied responsibility for, derailed Biden's planned meeting with leaders of Jordan, Egypt and Palestine and saw regional tensions grow as neighbouring countries condemned Israel over the blast.

However, Israel claimed to have proof that the explosion was caused by a failed rocket launched by Islamic Jihad, which occasionally works with Hamas.

Here are the main stories from today:

1. Biden arrives in Israel

• US president Joe Biden arrived in Israel following the deadly hospital blast, which derailed his planned summit in Jordan with Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el Sisi and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

• “I’m deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital,” Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “And based on what I’ve seen that appears as though it was done by the other team.”

Read more: Biden embraces Netanyahu on Israel visit, blames 'other side' for hospital blast (USA Today)

2. Questions over deadly hospital blast

• Israel released video evidence it says is proof the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which has denied blame.

• Rishi Sunak called for a “calm and cool” response to the blast, urging people not to "rush to judgement" and committing the Government to publishing an assessment of who was behind the blast.

Read more: We can’t rush to judgment on who was behind Gaza hospital blast, Sunak says (PA)

3. Iran demands Israel sanctions

• Iran has called for Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to impose sanctions and an oil embargo against Israel, whom it blamed for the attack on the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza in the aftermath of the rocket blast that killed hundreds of people.

• “The foreign minister calls for an immediate and complete embargo on Israel by Islamic countries, including oil sanctions, in addition to expelling Israeli ambassadors if relations with the Zionist regime have been established,” a statement from the Foreign Ministry, reported by Al Jazeera, said.

Read more: Israel faces blame from regional allies over Gaza hospital deaths (The Guardian)

4. Burley comments spark complaints

• More than 1,500 complaints have been received by Ofcom after Sky News presenter Kay Burley allegedly misrepresented the Palestinian ambassador on her show.

• The veteran journalist claimed Husam Zomlot, the most senior Palestinian diplomat in the UK, had said "Israel had it coming" when Hamas attacked.

Read more: Hundreds complain over Kay Burley's Palestinian ambassador comments (PA)

5. Egypt rejects Palestinian refugees

• Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said rejected the forced displacement of Palestinians into his country, adding any such move would turn the peninsula into a base for attacks against Israel and that millions of Egyptians would protest against it.

• The border between Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip is the site of the only crossing from the Palestinian territory that is not controlled by Israel. But al-Sisi has seemingly slammed the door on such a way out saying it "should not be accepted".

Read more: Egypt rejects displacement of Palestinians into Sinai (Reuters)

Where is Gaza?

Gaza, also known as the Gaza Strip, is a densely-populated Palestinian enclave on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, north-east of the Sinai Peninsula.

Bound by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the south, it is just 25 miles long and six miles wide.

Gaza is one of two Palestinian territories. The other is the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Read more

• Israel-Hamas war: 3 developments on Wednesday