Israel has released footage of a failed Hamas rocket launch that it claims killed hundreds of people sheltering in a hospital in Gaza.
Palestinian officials said the blast killed at least 500 people. Israel has “categorically denied” any involvement and has instead blamed the strike on a failed rocket launch by Hamas terrorists.
Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital was reportedly housing thousands when it was bombed on Tuesday. Many victims are believed to be unaccounted for under the rubble.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a video of what it says is the hospital before and after the blast.
The footage appears to show cars in the hospital parking lot before and after the blast and an example of a crater left by Israeli ordinance. No such crater is seen at the hospital.
In an update posted to X, the IDF said: “A failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization hit the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City.”
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the IDF, told CNN: “We did not strike that, and that the intelligence that we have suggests that it was a failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad, and I want to add, categorically, that we do not intentionally strike any sensitive facilities, any sensitive facilities, and definitely not hospitals.”
Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, at least 500 people were killed, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
As rage spread through the region because of the hospital carnage, and with President Joe Biden heading to the Mideast in hopes of stopping the war from spreading, Jordan’s foreign minister said his country cancelled a regional summit scheduled for Wednesday in Amman, where Biden was to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
The war between Israel and Hamas was “pushing the region to the brink,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told state-run television. He said Jordan would host the summit only when everyone had agreed its purpose would be to “stop the war, respect the humanity of the Palestinians and deliver the aid they deserve.”
President Joe Biden will now visit only Israel, a White House official said.
The explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital left gruesome scenes. Video from the scene appeared to show fire engulfing the building and the hospital grounds strewn with torn bodies, many of them young children.
The grass around them was strewn with blankets, school backpacks and other belongings.
The bloodshed unfolded as the U.S. tried to convince Israel to allow the delivery of supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals in the tiny Gaza Strip, which has been under a complete siege since Hamas’ deadly rampage in southern Israel last week. Hundreds of thousands of increasingly desperate people were searching for bread and water.
Gaza has been under siege since Hamas – which controls the strip – launched a massive terrorist attack that killed at least 1,400 Israelis. Nearly 200 Israelis have been taken hostage.
Israel responded to the attack by launching thousands of airstrikes on Gaza. Palestinian authorities claimed at least 3,000 people had been killed in Gaza before the hospital blast.
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