New footage appears to show rockets being fired over the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City seconds before it was rocked by a massive explosion.
Israel’s Channel 12 News aired a timestamped video from a live stream, saying it was “proof” Tel Aviv had no responsibility for the blast, which killed hundreds of civilians.
News anchor Yonit Levy said: “This is proof of Israel’s claims that it was actually missiles from the Gaza Strip shot in the direction of the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City.”
The news station’s footage was timestamped at 6.59pm – one minute before the health ministry in Gaza accused Israel of hitting the Christian-run hospital – which Israeli forces had ordered to evacuate three times over the previous four days.
Palestinian officials blamed the explosion on an Israeli air strike, while Tel Aviv denied any responsibility, claiming the deadly fire was the result of a failed rocket launch carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
This group, the second-largest armed organisation in Gaza, has rejected Israel’s allegation.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) made public on Wednesday morning its findings following an investigation into the blast, which included radar reportedly showing 10 rockets being fired from a nearby cemetery.
Early US intelligence and an open-source assessment also believe the tragedy is to blame on a misfiring Palestinian rocket.
Adrienne Watson, White House National Security Council spokesperson, tweeted: “While we continue to collect information, our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday.”
Hours prior, US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Tel Aviv: “Based on what I have seen, it appears though it was done by the other team, not you.”
Acknowledging tensions in the region have reached boiling point following the deadly blast, Mr Biden added: “But there’s a lot of people out there who are not sure, so we have got to overcome a lot of things.”
Following news of the destruction of the hospital, protests erupted in Middle Eastern and Arab cities, and Mr Biden’s planned meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestine’s Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was scrapped.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged people to refrain from “jumping to conclusions” when it comes to who was behind the attack, as he stressed today: “Last night, too many jumped to conclusions around the tragic loss of life at Al Ahli hospital. Getting this wrong would put even more lives at risk.”
Chaos and horror erupted after the crowded hospital – which was offering refuge to many Palestinians displaced by the war as well as to sick and wounded people – was hit by the blast.
Palestinian officials believe at least 471 were killed in the blast and more than 300 remained wounded.
This explosion came 10 days after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel which killed at least 1,400 people. Some 200 people were also abducted by the terror group.
In retaliation, the Israeli military has been carrying out retaliatory air strikes on the Gaza Strip, believed to have killed at least 3,000 Palestinians and injured some 10,000 – with an additional 1,200 people believed to be buried under the rubble.
