Multiple investigations debunk the Israeli army’s claims regarding the massive explosion that struck the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians, mostly women and children.
On Tuesday, October 17, a massive airstrike hit the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians.
Initially, a top aide for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hananya Naftali, took responsibility for the attack, stating in a tweet:
“Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza. A multiple number of terrorists are dead. It’s heartbreaking that Hamas is launching rockets from hospitals, Mosques, schools and using civilians as human shields.”
The tweet was quickly deleted, however, and a new Israeli version emerged.
In the following hours, Israel said that the mass killing of Palestinians in Al-Ahli was a result of a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad.
Since then, many attempted to answer the question: who bombed the Christian medical center?
Below, are the summaries of three different investigations that refuted the Israeli version of events. They also prove that the Israeli narrative on the unprecedented massacre of civilians was, in fact, fabricated.
1. Forensic Architecture
A joint analysis conducted by the independent university-based research agency, Forensic Architecture, Al-Haq and Earshot.ngo “casts significant doubt” on the Israeli account.
Preliminary analysis by FA, @alhaq_org & @earshot_ngo into the #AlAhli hospital blast in Gaza casts significant doubt on IOF claims that the source of the deadly explosion was a Palestinian-fired rocket travelling west to east. pic.twitter.com/PtYtP9l81j
— Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi) October 20, 2023
“3D analysis shows patterns of radial fragmentation on the southwest side of the impact crater, as well as a shallow channel leading into the crater from the northeast,” Forensic Architecture wrote in a series of posts on the social media platform X.
It added,
“In reviewing our analysis, investigator & explosive weapons expert @CobbSmith agrees the fragmentation patterns may indicate the projectile came from the northeast—the direction of the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza perimeter—and not from the west, as claimed by the IOF.”
According to Forensic Architecture, the “analysis of the crater size suggests a munition larger than eg a Spike or Hellfire missile commonly used by IOF drones.”
The Israeli army’s claim that the missile that hit the hospital came from the south-west was also refuted by Earshot.ngo, which performed independent audio analysis.
Earshot also analyzed the recording released by the Israeli army of an alleged exchange between members of Hamas implicating the Islamic Jihad in the attack. According to Earshot, “this recording was manipulated and cannot be used as a credible source of evidence”.
🔴PALESTINIAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH: The number of Palestinians killed and wounded in the Israeli war on Gaza rose to 4,385 killed, including 1,756 children and 976 women, and over 13,000 wounded.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG: https://t.co/LD0edRnmUp pic.twitter.com/fXnphLs2uy
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 21, 2023
2. Sanad Agency
Another investigation, carried out by Sanad Agency, found out that all the rockets launched toward Israel from the besieged Gaza Strip before the attack on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital were intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome system.
An Al Jazeera digital investigation found no grounds for the Israeli army's claim that the strike on the al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a failed rocket launch. pic.twitter.com/DQsrBXfwmL
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 19, 2023
“The investigation reveals that Israeli statements seem to have misinterpreted the evidence to build a story that one of the flashes recorded by several sources was a rocket misfire,” Al Jazeera reported, adding:
“Based on a detailed review of all videos, Sanad’s analysts conclude that the flash Israel attributed to a misfire was in fact consistent with Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting a missile fired from the Gaza Strip and destroying it in mid-air.”
3. Ammunition Specialist
In an interview with the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper, retired military officer and ammunition specialist Engin Yiğit said that,
“Bombs with proximity fuses or proximity sensors may not create craters where they explode.”
This was a response to the Israeli army’s imagery, claiming that the explosion could not have been the result of an airstrike, due to the absence of visible deep craters.
Experts dismiss Israel's claims on Gaza hospital massacre, saying that it was carried out with US-made MK-84 guided bomb due to absence of craters, while another expert says it's impossible that the rocket was fired from within Gaza https://t.co/XKf9AQOX62
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) October 18, 2023
“The hospital attack in Gaza may have been similar. How high the bomb explodes can be set by the user,” Yiğit noted.
Yiğit went as far as providing an early hypothesis, suggesting that it is strongly possible that the attack was carried out with an MK-84 guided bomb.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
