Israel’s military has released proof that Islamist militant group, Hamas was responsible for the devastating blast at a hospital in Gaza which is feared to have killed up to 500 people including women and children.
Palestine said Israel was responsible for the blast
The Palestinian Ministry of Health on Tuesday night, October 17 said the massacre was ‘unprecedented’, with many of those killed at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital being women and children.
The death of women and children has inflamed tensions in the Middle East region already in crisis since Hamas’ murderous rampage across the Israeli border on October 7, which triggered a retaliatory bombing campaign from Israel.
But the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on Wednesday morning, October 18 hit back at claims they were responsible, instead accusing Hamas of launching a ‘global media campaign to hide what really happened’.
Israel releases proof that Hamas caused the blast
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters the military has been able to prove the blast was caused by a misfired rocket set off by the Islamic Jihad group.
He said a barrage of rockets was fired by Hamas towards Israel at 6.15pm, followed by another 10 by Islamic Jihad at 6.59pm – the same time as initial reports of an explosion at the hospital.
The structure of the hospital building remains largely intact, Hagari said, with the shell landing in a carpark, with the unused propellant then igniting a huge blaze.
He said ‘no IDF fire by land, sea, or air hit the hospital’ and told reporters the rocket was likely fired from a nearby cemetery.
The spokesman also said militants ‘refer to an Islamic Jihad failure’ in intercepted communications, adding that it was now being ‘used as propaganda against Israel’.
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The proof
Hagari said: ‘It is impossible to know what happened as quickly as Hamas claimed they knew. That should have been an initial warning sign for many.
‘Unlike Hamas, the IDF have launched an immediate examination which was overseen at the very highest levels of command.
‘This professional review was based on intelligence, operational systems and aerial footage, all of which we cross-checked.
‘The evidence which we are sharing with you all confirms the explosion in the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket that was misfired.’
In the wake of the hospital strike, Jordan cancelled a summit with US president Joe Biden, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Abbas also pulled out of a meeting with Biden.
Protesters took to the streets in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and in the West Bank after former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called for demonstrations in front of embassies around the world.
