Israel provided the United States overnight Wednesday with intelligence about the explosion at Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza Strip, which the Arabs claim caused hundreds of deaths. The information includes signals intelligence, intercepted communications, and other forms of collected data.
The IDF clarified that a comprehensive investigation clearly revealed that the attack on the hospital was not carried out by the Israeli army. In addition, the IDF published documentation showing the area of the hospital before and after the attack. IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari tweeted: “A failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization hit the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City. Attached is a video from the IAF system that captured the area around the hospital before and after the failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization:
A failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization hit the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City:
Attached is a video from the IAF system that captured the area around the hospital before and after the failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization: pic.twitter.com/OXxKRcSbYF
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) October 18, 2023
Hagari read a transcript of a conversation intercepted by Israeli intelligence in which terrorists are heard discussing the failed launch said: “They shot from the cemetery behind the hospital.”
The IDF statement said: “The hospital was damaged as a result of a failed launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip shoot indiscriminately at Israel, endangering and harming the residents of the Gaza Strip as well. Since the beginning of the war, approximately 450 rockets that were launched by the terrorist organizations fell inside the Gaza Strip territory.”
Al Jazeera reported: “The health ministry in Gaza said Wednesday’s blast at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital was caused by an Israeli air raid. Israel has attributed the explosion to a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group. The PIJ has denied the allegation.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted at 2 AM on Wednesday: “I am horrified by the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in a strike on a hospital in Gaza today, which I strongly condemn. My heart is with the families of the victims. Hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law.”
Guterres didn’t bother to mention that Israel said it hadn’t done it.
Hundreds of enraged Jordanians rioted outside the Israel Embassy in Amman late Tuesday night in response to the false reports that the IDF bombed a hospital in Gaza City. the Embassy building was firebombed and Security forces at the scene used “special means” to disperse the rioters (Jordanians Storm Israeli Embassy in Amman).
The NY Times acknowledged that “In the past, rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups, including Islamic Jihad, have occasionally malfunctioned and hit civilian neighborhoods.”
Before taking off for Israel on Air Force One, President Joe Biden said he directed his national security team to look into what happened.
King Abdullah II of Jordan called the explosion “a heinous war crime that cannot be ignored” and canceled his meeting with President Biden and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
The Saudi government accused Israel of “a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms.” Egypt demanded “that Israel immediately cease its collective punishment policies against the people of the Gaza Strip.”
Finally, in ironic news, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Israel must provide satellite images as evidence that it is not behind the attack on the hospital in Gaza Tuesday night. Then the country that has been accused of unimaginable war crimes against Ukrainian civilians––unprovoked––called the attack on the hospital “an act of dehumanization and a crime” and suggested “the latest escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a global catastrophe.”
Once again, Moscow gives hypocrisy a bad name.
