New video materials make us think about how and by whom yesterday’s disaster with hundreds of civilians killed in a Gaza hospital was caused.
Video footage released by Palestinians shows an Israeli JDAM bomb fired into Gaza with the exact same sound as the shell that destroyed the hospital.
In contrast, an audio recording released today by the Israeli military shows a dialogue between Hamas officials claiming that the strike was carried out by a Palestinian Ayyash 250 rocket.
This rocket bears the name of a prominent Hamas figure and was first seen in 2021 when such a rocket was fired at Ramon Air Base in the Negev Desert in southern Israel, traveling over 220 km! Although it missed its target at the time, being unguided, it underlined the scale of the threat, as it had previously been thought to have a range of around 160 km.
Hamas terrorists in their own voices:
Listen to the conversation between Hamas operatives as they discuss the failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on October 17, 2023. pic.twitter.com/mz31MiePU3
— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) October 18, 2023
The following can be heard from the conversation on video:
- Hamas Operative #1 “I tell you that this is the first time we have seen such a missile fall, and that is why we say that it belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
- Hamas operative #2 – What is this?
- Hamas Operative #1 – They say she belongs to PIJ.
- Hamas Operative #2 – Is this one of us?
- Hamas Operative #1 – This is what it looks like!
- Hamas operative #2 – Who said that?
- Hamas Operative #1 – They say that the shrapnel from the rocket is local shrapnel, not Israeli shrapnel.
- Hamas operative #2 – What are you saying (name)?
- Hamas Operative #1 “But, God bless him, couldn’t he have found another place to explode?”
- Hamas Operative #2 – It’s okay, yes, (name), he was shot in the cemetery behind the hospital.
- Hamas Operative #1 – What?! What!
- Hamas militant #2 “They launched it from the cemetery behind the Al-Mamadani hospital, but it misfired and fell on them.
- Hamas Operative #1 – Is the hospital located in front of this cemetery?
- Hamas Operative #2 – Yes, Al-Maamadani is located right on the territory of the cemetery.
- Hamas Operative #1 – Where is it when you enter the territory?
- Hamas Operative #2 – First you enter the complex and do not go towards the city, it is located on the right side of Al-Maamadani Hospital.
- Hamas Operative #1 – Yes, I know.
So it looks like there is a communications battle going on between Israel and the Palestinians over who caused the Gaza hospital disaster and who will ultimately be “blamed.” However, the authenticity of this recording is unknown. Considering that the Israeli media began to massively “produce” easily verifiable fakes, trust in Israeli sources is low.
One thing is clear, most likely the Israelis nor the Palestinians deliberately attacked the hospital. The attack was unintentional, meaning it was apparently carried out by mistake, since the Israelis were not interested in committing such a massacre, realizing that everyone would turn against them.
It will be difficult for Israel to convince the world community of its own innocence for the tragedy after they spent 10 days bombing neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip, calling on themselves to act tougher.
However, this strike, if carried out by the Israelis, was either due to incorrect information, which also led to incorrect targeting, or due to a malfunction of the JDAM missile guidance system, or because the Israeli pilots were trying to hit Hamas targets in real time, incorrectly assessing the situation.
Opinion: someone in the leadership of the Israeli army needed this blow, since the situation was rapidly moving towards pacification. Now peace is impossible, and someone needs it.
For example, if there was a Hamas rocket launcher on the roof of a hospital, perhaps the pilot decided to destroy it outright, without assessing whether the building was a hospital or something else, and without seeking confirmation from management.
Meanwhile, the IDF: “Analysis of our aerial photographs confirms that there was no direct hit on the hospital itself. The only damaged area was the parking lot outside the hospital, where we see traces of burning, no craters and no structural damage to nearby buildings.” , our rocket ended up in the hospital, but the damage was caused by another impact.
However, there is a big question high power explosiona, because it caused very great destruction, which cannot be justified by the explosion of a relatively low-power Palestinian rocket. For example, in Ashkelon we saw how a Palestinian rocket hit a city building and destroyed half a floor.
There is a version that a bomb or rocket hit the room where oxygen cylinders were stored or, alternatively, Hamas militants stored ammunition and possibly fuel inside the hospital, which is what caused this result.
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