Hundreds of Palestinians who were taking refuge from Israeli bombardment at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City were killed on Tuesday night when a projectile fell on the health center, the oldest in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, the military political group that rules Gaza, quickly blamed the Israeli air force for the deliberate bombing, while Israel said yesterday that a rocket had failed after being fired from an Islamic Jihad launcher. , the other militia operating in the strip, which denies any responsibility.
This is what is known about the explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital, formerly known as Al-Ma'amadani, the only Christian medical center in Gaza, which has been active since 1882 under the direction of the Episcopal Diocese from Jerusalem
How many people have died?
The region's Ministry of Health put the death toll in the attack on the hospital at 471 and 314 injured on Tuesday. According to a doctor, at the time of the bombing, around 4,000 people took refuge in the facilities. An Al-Jazeera journalist confirmed it: "This area was full of displaced people who had left their homes after being ordered to evacuate by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)," said Tareq Abu Azz um in reference to the evacuation of the northern half of the strip ordered by Israel to the Palestinians last Saturday.
A doctor surrounded by corpses in white plastic bags described the barbarism: "They tried to find a safe place in the only Christian hospital in the strip and they have been massacred. All these dead had come with body parts amputated", he explains in front of the camera.
How was the place?
According to the images captured by journalists on the ground, the site of the impact of the projectile shows a parking lot full of burned cars as a result of a large fire. The interior of at least one adjacent building suffered damage to the false ceiling and windows, with glass on the floor. There is no debris from buildings on the ground.
There are images on the networks, which could not be verified, which, according to some analysts, would show the launch of the rocket that would have caused the explosion. In these images you can see how a projectile explodes in the air in the middle of the darkness and then two explosions are observed on the ground.
What does Israel claim?
The Israeli army denies that the killing was caused by a bombardment, but by an explosion with less destructive capacity than that of its missiles. According to the Israeli version, the impact took place in the adjacent parking lot due to a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launched from a cemetery near the hospital. The projectile was part of a barrage of ten other rockets.
"There is no structural damage to the building, the walls are intact, there is no crater, there is no damage except in the parking lot," insisted in a press conference the spokesman of the Israeli armed forces, Daniel Hagari, who reiterated that in this place there had been no attack by the Israeli army, "neither by air, land or sea". According to the spokesman, since the start of hostilities, 450 projectiles launched by Hamas and Islamic Jihad have fallen within the strip.
What evidence does Israel present?
The Israeli army reinforces its theory with several arguments. The first is that if it had been an Israeli bomb, it would have caused more damage. A crater would also be seen at the site of the impact and adjacent buildings would have suffered structural damage, which the released images do not show.
Hagari also showed the launch point of the projectiles allegedly used by Islamic Jihad, located a few kilometers to the southwest, and their trajectory.
According to the military spokesman, the Hebrew intelligence services would have intercepted a telephone conversation between two alleged members of Hamas in which one informs the other that the projectile belonged to the Islamic Jihad.
According to the transcript provided by Israel, one states: "They say the shrapnel is ours." The other answers: "May God bless us! Couldn't he have found somewhere else to explode?" And the first one tells him that the rocket was launched from the cemetery behind the hospital. [ This location does not match the information provided by the Hebrew army itself, since the Gaza cemetery is located right next to the hospital.]
What does Islamic Jihad say?
Islamic Jihad, the second armed group in Gaza, rejected the Israeli accusation, which it held responsible for the attack. "The Zionist enemy is trying to evade responsibility for the brutal slaughter it committed by bombing the Arab Baptist National Hospital in Gaza through its usual fabrication of lies, and points the finger of blame at the Islamic Jihad movement" , he said in a statement.
Islamic Jihad maintains a presence in both Gaza and the West Bank. At times it has come to overshadow Hamas, as in the hostilities of May, in which it assumed all the leading role, while Hamas was apparently engaged in management. In reality, these hostilities made it possible to divert Israel's attention to Hamas, while it prepared its current attack.
What does the United States say?
US President Joe Biden, whose visit to Israel coincided with the attack, said yesterday that the Pentagon had shown him evidence suggesting Israel was not responsible. "From what I've seen, it looks like the other team did it," he said.
On the other hand, Iran requested an embargo against Israel by the Muslim countries.
