Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital Bombing: IDF Or Islamic Jihad? What The Claims And Counterclaims Are
Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital was one of the last remaining medical facilities in the besieged Gaza Strip. At the time of the explosion, it was housing hundreds of patients.
In the worst attack on civilians since the war between Hamas and Israel broke out on Saturday, October 7, over 500 people, including children and critically ill patients, were killed on Tuesday after the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza was hit by a blast.
Where is Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital?
Located in central Gaza, the hospital, which the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem runs, was one of the last remaining medical facilities in the besieged Gaza Strip.
AFP
At the time of the explosion, it was housing hundreds of patients and many more civilians who were displaced by the war and had taken shelter there.
WHO statement on attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital and reported large-scale casualties
¡ª World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) October 17, 2023
WHO strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. The hospital was operational, with patients, health and care givers, and internally displaced people¡ pic.twitter.com/iduiD0pA3q
What Israel has said
It was initially reported that the Al-Ahli Hospital was hit by an Israeli airstrike, which would account for a war crime.
A massacre: hundreds are killed in an Israeli strike on the Episcopal (Anglican) Church hospital (Al Ahli Arab Hospital) in #Gaza, there were hundreds of medical staff, patients and civilians taking refuge under Church protection. What and how long will it take to stop these¡ pic.twitter.com/oc3wSHwRTO
¡ª Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) October 17, 2023
As the shocking visuals of the carnage flashed across TV screens and social media, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that terrorists in Gaza fired rockets.
Netanyahu said that intelligence from several sources revealed that Islamic Jihad was responsible for the unsuccessful rocket launch.
"An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit," he posted on X.
AFP
"Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza," he added.
Why IDF blamed Islamic Jihad
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has said that the Israeli military did not strike the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip and that the facility was hit by a failed rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad terror organisation, media reports said.
The Israeli military further reiterated the same after what it was after additional review and cross-examination of the operational and intelligence systems, "it is clear that the IDF did not strike the hospital in Gaza."
REUTERS
"I can confirm that following an analysis of the IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit," says Hagari in a short video sent by the IDF.
Intelligence points to Islamic Jihad, "which is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza," he added.
A failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization hit the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City.
¡ª Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 18, 2023
IAF footage from the area around the hospital before and after the failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization: pic.twitter.com/AvCAkQULAf
According to the Israeli military, Gaza-based terror organisations fire rockets indiscriminately toward Israel, and about 450 rockets launched toward Israel have fallen inside Gaza since the beginning of the war on October 7, "endangering and harming the lives of Gazan residents."
What Israel's review showed
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus later told CNN that Israel has already released footage captured by a UAV to international media of the blast that occurred earlier in the day.
He added that they plan to release additional intelligence of an intercepted conversation between Palestinian militants that they believe a rocket had misfired.
Conricus added that the IDF went through their own systems to confirm they did not fire at that location and that there was no misfire from Israel.
First clear footage from the Al Ahli tragedy in Gaza, but what do you notice?
¡ª David Lisovtsev (@david_lisovtsev) October 17, 2023
this is a surface explosion, almost no soil is thrown up, so it's not an air bomb.
Looks like a failed Hamas rocket that landed there, what a tragedy has Hamas brought to the people of Gaza! pic.twitter.com/MNzo16ZKXt
How Palestine has responded
On Wednesday, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, countered the Israeli Prime Minister's claims and said, "He is a liar".
"He is a liar. His digital spokesperson tweeted that Israel did the hit thinking that there was a base for Hamas around this hospital, and then he deleted that tweet. We have a copy of that tweet... Now they changed the story to try to blame the Palestinians," Mansour said.
REUTERS
He said further, "The Israeli spokesperson of the Army made a statement in which he said evacuate the hospitals...Their intention is to evacuate, or hospitals will be hit, and they are responsible for that crime, and they cannot fabricate stories to deal with it."
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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