On the one hand, there is Israel (backed by the US), which continues to deny accusations of involvement in the attack, and on the other hand, Hamas and Islamic jihad, which openly blame Tel Aviv. There are still many points that remain unclear about the explosion that took place at Al Ahli hospital in Gaza at 18.59 on October 17. What is being carried out is also a counter-propaganda war. However, the truth is unclear at the moment: It is not possible to say for sure who committed the massacre, and the number of victims is also uncertain.
Number of victims unknown
Immediately after the events, a spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health said that 500 people had died, but the same ministry later corrected the statement by saying that the victims were “hundreds”. Mohammed Abu Salim, director of the nearby Al-Shifa hospital, said a few hours after the explosion that approximately 150-200 people who died in the massacre had been brought to his hospital, but he could not give a more precise estimate. The latest figure announced by the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health is 471 dead and hundreds of injured, but this is a figure that should be handled with great care. There were certainly many victims, but circulating numbers are difficult to independently verify. The actual number of deaths will be much lower than in Tel Aviv.
Who hit the hospital?
Doubts about the father’s side of the massacre continue. Initially, Hamas talked about a raid by the Israeli army, this information spread like wildfire on social media and was republished by many news agencies. The first statements came from the Israeli army shortly after, and the Israeli army immediately denied any responsibility and specifically blamed the Palestinian Jihad Movement, the other terrorist organization that triggered the October 7 attacks, together with Hamas.
According to Tel Aviv, the hospital was hit by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip, which misfired and accidentally crashed into Palestinian territory. The Israeli version is also supported by US President Joe Biden, who exonerated Israel during his visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, citing Pentagon sources. a thesis repeated during his return trip to the United States. “The US Department of Defense argues that it is very unlikely that the attack came from the Israelis,” Biden said.
US version
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said Israel’s assessment of non-involvement was based on various intelligence reports as well as “open source video and footage of the incident.” In particular, intelligence sources revealed that some Palestinian fighters believed that the cause of the explosion was a rocket launched by Islamic Jihad. Some US officials also reported. New York Times Infrared satellite data shows the rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip. But the officials themselves (who wished to remain anonymous) cautioned that this was a preliminary analysis.
Hamas’s alleged voice and Israel’s thesis
The Tel Aviv army brought various elements to prove the foreignness of the Israeli forces. These include audio of an alleged conversation between two Hamas members analyzing the situation (“is this ours?”; “it looks like it”), clearly referencing a mistake. However, there are some doubts about the sound. Especially, second The accent and language used would not be convincing, says a journalist from British broadcaster Channel 4 (who says he has consulted several experts).
Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said that checks showed that Islamic Jihad launched a barrage of rockets on Israel at around 18.15 local time on Tuesday. At 18.59, 10 of these rockets were fired from the cemetery near the hospital in Gaza, and just at that time, news of an explosion in the health facility came.
According to the IDF, this was clearly a mistake by Hamas: since the beginning of the conflict, 450 defective Palestinian rockets have exploded in the Strip.
A failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist group hit Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City.
IAF images from the area around the hospital before and after the failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization: pic.twitter.com/AvCAkQULAf
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) 18 October 2023
Jihadists: “We made mistakes, but not this big”
Islamic Jihad called Israel’s accusations “lies”. According to the jihadists, the video footage and the extent of the destruction show that the massacre could only be caused by an Israeli bomb. A thesis shared by various analysts. The group’s spokesman, Musab Al-Breim, stated that the weapons provided to the Palestinians (and the jihadist group in particular) were “primitive” and therefore could not cause destruction on this scale.
However, it is true that at 19.09, thus a few minutes after the explosion, the military wing of the group published a message on Telegram claiming that it had launched a rocket in the direction of Israel. However, Al-Breim pointed out that the timing of missions does not always coincide with military operations. “We’ve made mistakes in the past, I don’t deny that,” he said, referring to rocket launches that crashed on the Strip, “but not mistakes of this magnitude.”
Is the crater incompatible with an air strike?
Military experts we interviewed Guardian They have suspicions that an Israeli raid caused the massacre. According to the reconstruction, the explosion occurred at 18.59 local time. The videos show a sudden flash followed by a second explosion a few seconds later.
A broadcast on Al Jazeera documented the moment Islamic Jihad launched a rocket and hit a hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds of people. pic.twitter.com/O5Lx1BtOtJ
– Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (@IsraelMFA) 17 October 2023
Images taken the next day show a small crater near the facility’s parking lot. The effect would occur at this exact point.
Military consultant and former Pentagon analyst Marc Garlasco told the British newspaper that in his view “the crater is not compatible with an air strike” and the damage to surrounding structures is “not consistent” with the characteristics of the US-supplied Jdam missiles. To the Israeli army. Justin Bronk, a military technologist and lecturer at the Royal United Services Institute, also argues that an air strike “seems less likely than a rocket failure causing an explosion and fuel fire.” But to date there is no irrefutable evidence, and it is difficult to independently verify the conflicting versions of the two parties involved. It will take time to get to the truth.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
