OAN’s Brooke Mallory
2:54 PM – Tuesday, October 17, 2023
A Gaza hospital was hit by a botched rocket strike from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the IDF verified on Tuesday. The exact number of fatalities is still unknown.
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Despite claims made by Hamas and several other nations, the IDF claimed to have numerous intelligence sources that proved Islamic Jihad, not Israel, was to blame for the attack.
“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,” Netanyahu declared on Tuesday.
Before confirming their security evaluation and claiming that PIJ was in fact the facilitator of the explosion, the IDF took two hours to investigate and confirm the details.
“An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
The number of casualties, according to Gazan officials, ranged from “dozens to hundreds,” and video footage from the site showed a number of vehicles going up in flames close to the hospital.
The explosion was reported while intense rocket fire from Gaza was being directed into central Israel.
In the Gaza Strip, missile storage facilities are frequently located within or close to hospitals, schools, and mosques as Hamas and other Palestinian organizations launch rockets from within civilian areas. In previous times of warfare, many fatalities were reported in similar events when rockets fired by Islamic groups hit structures in Gaza, frequently missing their true target. During Operation Breaking Dawn in August 2022, two individuals were killed when a missile shot from Gaza collided with a clinic.
Four Palestinians were also murdered in May when an Islamic Jihad missile missed its target. The IDF made video available of the incident’s unsuccessful launches.
However, Hamas still accused Israel of being the perpetrators of the rockets, and a number of Democrats and leftist Congress members, like Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), chimed in with the false narrative.
“We call on the international community and the Arab and Islamic countries to assume their responsibilities and intervene immediately now to stop the arrogance of the occupation and its fascist army,” Hamas said in a statement.
“What is taking place is genocide. We call on the international community to intervene immediately to stop this massacre. Silence is no longer acceptable,” read a statement issued by the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
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