Israel’s military has released what it claims is evidence – including drone footage and an intercepted conversation – that it says proves an Islamist militant group was responsible for a deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza and not an Israeli airstrike.
“We are running on it because someone is doing a fake on us, on Israel,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has said in a news conference.
It has not been possible to independently verify Rear Admiral Hagari’s claims.
Hundreds of people were killed in a devastating explosion at the al Ahli hospital in an attack that Palestinian officials have blamed on Israel.
It is the deadliest single event of the Israel-Hamas war so far.
So who is responsible?
The carnage triggered new protests against an unprecedented campaign of Israeli aerial bombardments on Gaza in response to a deadly attack on Israel by Hamas, which controls the Palestinian enclave, on 7 October.
Seeking to push back on the allegations, Rear Admiral Hagari said no Israeli aircraft had been operating in the area of the hospital at the time of the explosion and that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group was responsible.
The officer shared an image of what he claimed was radar footage captured by the military. This footage showed the passage of a barrage of rockets fired from inside Gaza towards Israel, with the route passing over the site of the hospital.
Rear Admiral Hagari also shared aerial footage collected by a military drone which he claims showed a blast that he said was inconsistent with Israeli weaponry.
He said the explosion occurred in the hospital car park after a rocket was fired from a nearby cemetery.
“There is no direct outside hit,” he said. “There is damage in the parking lot, maybe other things but it is not from a direct [hit] from the outside.”
Misfiring rockets
Rear Admiral Hagari later said the IDF had intercepted “terrorists talking about rockets misfiring”.
Reading an English translation of audio he claimed was of two Palestinian militants talking, Rear Admiral Hagari said one of the men says: “I’m telling you, this is the first time that we see a missile like this falling and so that’s why we are saying it belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“He added that another person then replies: “What? It’s from us?”
Rear Admiral Hagari says the first person later says: “They are saying shrapnel from the missile is local shrapnel and not like Israeli shrapnel.”
The legitimacy of the audio has not been independently verified.
The Israeli military has claimed roughly 450 rockets fired at Israel by militant groups have landed in Gaza during the conflict.
Rear Admiral Hagari held up an image he claims shows where failed launches have taken place in Gaza.
The claims of failed launches have not been independently confirmed.
