The United Nations on Friday called for an independent international investigation into a devastating explosion at an overcrowded Gaza City hospital earlier this week as the conflict between the Israeli military and Hamas rages on.
Palestinian officials in the besieged Gaza Strip blamed the explosion at al-Ahli Arab Hospital on an Israeli attack, while the Israeli army said it was caused by a faulty rocket fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group, making that claim however, denied. Israel’s ally, the United States, has also blamed Palestinian fighters, while Arab states have blamed Israel.
The blast killed more than 470 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, while Israel said the number was deliberately inflated. US intelligence agencies estimated the number of victims at between 100 and 300 people.
In the days before the explosion, Israel ordered 1.1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern part of Gaza ahead of a threatened ground offensive. According to the Anglican Church, which runs the medical facility, the Israeli military has specifically issued evacuation warnings for al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
On Friday, a spokesman for the U.N. human rights office said staff were trying to collect evidence on the ground, but heavy bombardment and fuel shortages during Israel’s “total siege” of the enclave were hampering efforts.
Meanwhile, several news organizations, including Al Jazeera, have analyzed video footage of the incident over the past few days to find out what happened. As Al Jazeera continues to collect information, here’s what you need to know:
What happened?
The explosion occurred around 7pm local time (16:00 GMT) on Tuesday. Live footage from Al Jazeera showed a bright light rising in the sky and flashing twice before drastically changing direction and exploding.
An explosion on the ground is then seen in the distance, followed by a second, much larger explosion closer to the camera.
Afterwards, recordings and images from the hospital grounds showed around two dozen destroyed vehicles in a parking lot. They were surrounded by damaged buildings, some of whose windows were broken and blood on the walls and floor.
An Al Jazeera digital investigation found no basis for the Israeli army’s claim that the attack on Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab hospital was caused by a failed rocket launch. pic.twitter.com/DQsrBXfwmL
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 19, 2023
An investigation by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification team found that Israeli statements appeared to have misinterpreted the evidence to build a story that one of the flashes recorded by multiple sources was a missile misfire.
Based on a detailed review of all the videos, Sanad concluded that the flash, which Israel attributed to a misfire, was actually consistent with Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip and destroying it in mid-air.
Channel 4, which published a video analysis examining the evidence presented by both sides, said there was “no evidence that the air and ground explosions are necessarily linked.”
So far there appears to be no conclusive evidence as to who was behind the second explosion that hit Al-Ahli Hospital. A number of organizations have suggested that the relatively small crater created by the attack appears to be inconsistent with weapons commonly fired by Israel.
However, the use of another type of artillery cannot be ruled out.
Investigative journalism group Bellingcat identified the apparent impact crater after analyzing footage and images of the aftermath. In a preliminary analysis, the group said the ground around one side of the crater showed a cone full of scars and holes, consistent with a munition explosion at that location.
Marc Garlasco, a military advisor with the PAX Protection of Civilians team, noted that the impact point did not appear to match the 500-, 1,000-, or 2,000-pound bombs used in Israeli-used Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). ) were used, according to the source Bellingcat report.
Channel 4 journalists who visited the site after the incident also reported seeing small craters more suitable for mortar attacks than rockets. Surrounding buildings had only superficial damage and there was no structural collapse.
The broadcaster said: “This makes a ground detonation attack from an Israeli missile unlikely, but does not rule out an air blast attack, which could result in major loss of life but would cause far less structural damage.”
Footage reviewed by the BBC, meanwhile, revealed inconsistencies in the reconstruction of events presented by Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari on Wednesday. “The spokesman said it was fired from a nearby cemetery – and there is a cemetery next to the hospital. However, a map presented by the spokesman showed a launch site further away. We couldn’t locate a cemetery there,” the British broadcaster said.
According to the broadcaster, an important part of the missing evidence is rocket fragments. Projectiles can often be identified by the debris of their casing and can be used to determine the projectile’s origin. However, evidence has yet to be found in this case.
Is there any further evidence?
Social media accounts on both sides were scrutinized for clues as allegations grew and tempers flared.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad posted a message on Telegram at 7:09 p.m. the night of the explosion saying it had fired a barrage of rockets into Israel – just minutes after the explosion.
In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, Musab al-Breim, a spokesman for the group, said the timing of posts does not always reflect the time of publication.
Posts on X sent by Hananya Naftali, a digital adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also raised suspicion. “The Israeli Air Force attacked a Hamas terrorist base in a hospital in Gaza,” he wrote, but the post was deleted almost immediately.
At 10:58 p.m., Naftali apologized on X for publishing a “Portal report” that “falsely claimed that Israel had attacked the hospital.” He said he has since deleted the tweet. “As the [Israeli army] “If Israel is not bombing hospitals, I assume it is targeting one of the Hamas bases in Gaza,” he added.
The Israeli army also released a video recording a conversation between alleged Hamas officials in which they appeared to discuss the misfire of the rocket that caused the hospital explosion.
In its analysis, Channel 4 said the credibility of the call was questionable due to the syntax, accent and tone used.
A journalist later asked Hagari at the press conference: “I want you to address the question of credibility because… that [Israeli army] doesn’t have a perfect track record when it comes to credibility.”
In his response, Hagari acknowledged previous shortcomings but said things are different now.