A blast at the al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital in Gaza that has reportedly left hundreds dead has become a lightning rod for anger across the region, sparking protests across the Arab world and beyond, writes The Guardian.

Hamas has blamed the blast on an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military has said the hospital was hit by a rocket barrage launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. Islamic Jihad also denied responsibility.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah called for a “day of rage” to coincide with US president Joe Biden’s arrival to the region.

Following Hezbollah’s call, hundreds of demonstrators scuffled with Lebanese security forces outside the US embassy in the suburb of Awkar, outside Beirut, where protesters hurled stones and set a nearby building on fire, Agence France-Presse reported.

Police fired several rounds of teargas to disperse protesters, while medics treated people affected by the teargas. AFP reported the protesters chanted “death to America” and “death to Israel”. Hundreds also gathered at the French embassy in Beirut, raising Hezbollah flags and also hurling stones which piled up at the embassy’s main entrance.

Early on Wednesday, the US state department raised its travel alert for Lebanon to “do not travel”, while authorizing the voluntary, temporary departure of family members of US government personnel.

In Jordan’s capital, Amman, protesters attempted to storm the Israeli embassy. Police used teargas to disperse several thousand demonstrators who chanted slogans in support of Hamas and demanded the government close the embassy and scrap a peace treaty with Israel. US secretary of state Antony Blinken was staying in the city on Tuesday leading US diplomatic efforts.

In Tehran, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the British and French embassies in the early hours of Wednesday. “Death to France and England,” protesters shouted, throwing eggs at the walls of the French embassy compound in the Iranian capital.

Several thousand people also gathered in Palestine Square in central Tehran to voice their anger, according to an AFP photographer.