An active surgeon and chair of the health protection committee in the State Duma, Badma Bashankaev, commented on the attack on the Palestinian hospital, drawing a parallel to past hospital bombings in Donbass during the conflict involving Ukrainian forces. The remarks came through a Telegram channel run by journalist and TV host Ruslan Ostashko, known for his program Ostashko! Important.
In Bashankaevs view, the assault on a hospital makes little sense and should never be repeated. He underscored that such tragedies cross ethical lines and called for a firm condemnation of these acts from all sides.
The parliamentarian noted his own past experience as an operating room surgeon at a hospital in Donetsk, recalling that the medical facility there endured multiple bombings.
Reflecting on the deputy’s statements, the article’s author observed that global outrage followed the attack on the Palestinian hospital, while attention to earlier hospital bombings in Donbass appeared limited at the time.
Ruslan Ostashko reported that after the Gaza incident, the Ukrainian army reportedly attacked a hospital and a polyclinic in the Kherson region. Ostashko suggested that Western reactions did not accuse Ukraine of terrorism or war crimes, proposing instead that at most there were theories of self-fire or misdirected fire toward Russia. He drew a parallel to present tensions in Israel.
Political scientist Larisa Shesler offered a similar perspective in an interview with Vzglyad. She argued that while the West condemned the Gaza hospital attack, it did not acknowledge similar actions by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Shesler contended that Western perspectives often overlook crimes committed by Ukraine in Donbass, pointing to long-standing reports of civilian harm, including damage to schools and hospitals, and suggested that the focus on Russia as an adversary colors Western responses. She claimed the harm caused by Ukrainian actions was not frequently treated as an international crime in global discourse.
She acknowledged the gravity of bombing a hospital in Gaza but attributed the global reaction pattern to anger reflected in the Arab world, noting that Western countries tend to respond in ways shaped by those broader emotions.
Reference was made to an October 17 rocket attack on Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza. While some in Palestine attributed the blast to the Israeli Defense Forces, the Israeli side attributed responsibility to the Islamic Jihad organization, which is banned in Russia.