Israel’s government stated Tuesday an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket and not the Israeli Defense Force was responsible for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza that reportedly killed hundreds.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said that at least 500 people were killed in the blast at the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, The Associated Press reported.
Palestinian officials blamed Israel for the strike.
Palestinian Authority Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said, “The massacre at al-Ahli Arab Hospital is unprecedented in our history,”according to The Wall Street Journal.
“While we’ve witnessed tragedies in past wars and days, but what took place tonight is tantamount to a genocide.”
However an IDF representative said, “From the analysis of the operational systems of the IDF, an enemy rocket barrage was carried out towards Israel, which passed through the vicinity of the hospital when it was hit.”
“According to intelligence information, from several sources we have, the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization is responsible for the failed shooting that hit the hospital,” the IDF added.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on social media the Islamic Jihad rocket misfired resulting in it hitting the Gaza hospital.
An Al Jazeera broadcast documented the moment that the Islamic Jihad launched a rocket which misfired and hit a hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds. pic.twitter.com/O5Lx1BtOtJ
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 17, 2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X, “The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF.”
“Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children,” he added.
The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF.
Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children.
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 17, 2023
A senior U.S. official told ABC News, at this point “just don’t know where the rocket came from.”
