BREAKING: #Israel Says Islamic Jihad Responsible For Al-Alhi Arab Gaza Hospital Attack—-Israel has denied it was responsible for the blast at a hospital in Gaza that the Hamas claims killed at least 500 people and has more trapped under rubble.
Intelligence information has revealed that the strike which hit al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was a rocket misfired by Palestinian terrorists, the Israeli army has claimed.
Unverified photographs circulating on social media showed fire engulfing the hospital halls, shattered glass and body parts scattered across the area.
Hundreds of people were reportedly seeking shelter at the hospital at the time of the blast, which the Hamas has called a ‘horrific massacre’ and a ‘crime of genocide’.
The airstrike came after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ordered Palestinians to flee from Gaza City and head south ahead of an expected ground offensive.
Palestine’s president Mahmoud Abbas has also cancelled a planned meeting with US President Joe Biden, which was meant to take place in Jordan tomorrow, in protest over the airstrike.
An analysis of IDF operational systems has indicated that the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation is ‘responsible for the failed shooting that hit the hospital’.
The military, in a statement, said that a ‘barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit’.
An IDF spokesperson added: ‘Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza.’
The Islamic Jihad is another Gaza-based terrorist group which has claimed to be fighting Israel alongside Hamas.
The Israeli army also said earlier on Tuesday that a hospital is a ‘highly sensitive building’ and is ‘not an IDF target’.
‘We urge everyone to proceed with caution when reporting unverified claims of a terrorist organisation,’ the IDF added.
Several hospitals in Gaza City have become refuges for hundreds of Palestinians after Israel ordered all residents of the city and surrounding areas to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip.
The al-Ahli Hospital was housing hundreds of ‘sick’, ‘wounded’ and ‘forcibly displaced’ people when it was attacked, Hamas has claimed.
The terrorist group, in a statement on its Telegram channel, alleged that most of the casualties at al-Ahli Hospital were ‘displaced families, patients, children and women’.
The statement added: ‘This also exposes the American and Western support for this criminal occupation.
‘The international community and the Arab and Islamic countries must assume their responsibilities and intervene immediately, now and not tomorrow… to stop the arrogance of the occupation and its fascist army, and hold it accountable for the genocide it has been committing for the eleventh day in a row in the already blockaded area.’
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declared three days of mourning following the airstrike on the hospital, according to reports by state media.
Abbas has also canceled his participation in a meeting scheduled Wednesday with Biden and other Mideast leaders, a senior Palestinian official has claimed.
He was scheduled to join Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at Wednesday’s summit in Amman, Jordan, where they are to discuss the Israel-Hamas war with Biden.
But the senior official said Abbas was withdrawing to protest an alleged Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza that health officials say has killed over 500 people.
‘The president is very angry after the news of the Israeli massacre at the hospital in Gaza, and he decided to immediately return to Ramallah,’ the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has claimed.
A Hamas official has also reportedly said they are willing to release all civilian hostages in one hour if Israel ceases its bombing of Gaza. Israel claims at least 199 people were taken hostage by the group last weekend during its surprise attack.
