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News Desk: Hamas and Israel traded accusations after a blast ripped through a hospital in war-torn Gaza killing over 500 people. While Hamas claims that the blast was caused by an Israeli rocket, the Benjamin Netanyahu government maintained that they had no role in the attack. The Israeli military blamed Palestinian militants, saying that the an outgoing Islamic Jihad rocket misfired.
To back their claims, Israel released a series of videos of the explosion, one of which showed the hospital and its surroundings before and after being hit by the rocket.
“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,” IDF said while sharing the video on X.
The video shows that while the building caught fire after the rocket landed in the hospital parking lot. The Israel military claimed that their weapons, especially their rockets, were high-impact and create craters at the site they hit.
They said that there are no visible craters near the hospital and even the building doesn’t seem to have encountered significant damage.
Asked to explain the size of the explosion at the site, chief Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said it was consistent with unspent rocket fuel catching fire. “Most of this damage would have been done due to the propellant, not just the warhead,” he said.
Hagari also accused Hamas of inflating the number of casualties from the explosion and said it could not know as quickly as it claimed what had caused the blast.
Health authorities in Gaza said the explosion at the Ahli Arab Hospital killed nearly 500 people. On the ground, there were scenes of chaos as the dead and wounded were taken to nearby medical centres.
At the Al-Shifa hospital, scores of bodies cloaked in blood-stained sheets and white plastic wrap lined the floors. Stunned relatives tried to identify loved ones.
With tensions high after the explosion, Arab leaders cancelled a summit with US President Joe Biden, who landed in Israel today.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were among countries to condemn the attack and blame Israel for it.
Before Tuesday’s blast, health authorities in Gaza said at least 3,000 people had died in Israel’s 11-day bombardment that began after a Hamas October 7 rampage on southern Israeli communities in which 1,400 people were killed and around 200 were taken into Gaza as hostages.
The fighting has raised fears of a widening war in the Middle East. The United States has sent aircraft carriers to support Israel, while allies of Hamas including Iran and Tehran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah have vowed to respond to a planned Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.
