[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 171 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5063-S5064]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ISRAEL

  Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, one last comment just based on news 
that is continuing to flow out.
  All of us are absolutely heartbroken--absolutely heartbroken--at a 
hospital that had a major explosion from a rocket in Gaza. The initial 
reports came out just immediately: This must have been the Israelis 
that attacked a hospital. And many countries around the world 
immediately made

[[Page S5064]]

statements that the Israelis bombed a hospital.
  Meetings were canceled with President Biden while he was in the 
region because the Israelis had bombed a hospital--until the facts and 
information actually came out. Now, less than 24 hours later, we have 
overhead that can identify the movement of different rockets that we 
are able to see. We have information that is now out in the public, and 
the President has confirmed that was not an Israeli strike on that 
hospital; that was a rocket that was launched from inside Gaza that 
went errant and then landed in Gaza directly on the hospital, killing 
almost 500 people.
  It was literally a terrorist attack on Israel that, instead of 
hitting innocent civilians in Israel, it hit innocent civilians in 
Gaza.
  It is still just as tragic for all of those families, but I would 
call on all the nations that immediately condemned Israel for attacking 
a hospital to immediately turn that to condemn Hamas for attacking 
civilians and for launching rockets to kill civilians in Israel that 
actually killed Palestinian civilians in Gaza, that for every nation 
that falsely accused Israel of this horrible attack, that they would 
see the evidence and they would instead turn and try to speak to Hamas 
to stop their terrorist attacks.
  That is something every nation can do, to stand up for the life and 
the value of people and of civilians. I would call on them to be able 
to do that even today.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

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