Israel military says no evidence of direct hit on Gaza hospital

JERUSALEM, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Israel’s military said on Wednesday it had seen no evidence of a direct hit on a hospital in the Gaza Strip the day before, where hundreds of Palestinians were killed in an explosion.

A military spokesperson told journalists that there was no structural damage to buildings around the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital and no craters consistent with an air strike.

The spokesperson accused Hamas of inflating the number of casualties from the explosion and said it could not know as quickly as it claimed what caused the blast.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, blamed the deadly blast on Israel. Israel says it was a result of a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in the enclave. The spokesperson added that some 450 rockets fired from Gaza have fallen short and landed inside the strip in the last 11 days.

The Israeli defence force held a news conference following the explosion at al Ahli Hospital denying it was responsible for the blast, claiming the Palestinian Islamic Jihad misfired rockets launched from Gaza toward Israel was the cause of the tragedy.

The Islamic Jihad said it was not involved in the explosion, accusing Israel of striking the hospital.

Hamas and several aid organisations have also blamed Israel.

A failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization hit the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City.

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

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 18, 2023

Spokesperson for the IDF, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, made the following claims.

• A barrage of rockets was launched at 6.15pm by Hamas toward Israel
• A barrage of 10 rockets was fired by the Islamic Jihad at 6.59pm
• At that time there were reports of an explosion at the hospital

He accused Hamas of launching a “global media campaign to hide what really happened”.They have inflated the number of casualties, he says.

“Analysis of our aerial footage confirms that there was no direct hit to the hospital itself,” he says, adding the only damage was to the carpark.

An aerial munition would have caused craters and structural damage to nearby buildings. “The size of damage we see here is due to the warhead of the Islamic Jihad rocket.”