IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Wednesday morning held a press conference for international journalists and presented evidence that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group was responsible for the explosion at the site of a Gazan hospital on Tuesday evening.
Israel previously provided the US with intelligence information overnight Wednesday with evidence that the blast was the result of a failed PIJ rocket strike and not an IDF strike. US President Joe Biden, who landed in Israel on Wednesday morning for a solidarity visit, expressed his outrage about the blast and said: “It was done by the other ‘team’ – not you.”
Hagari said, among other things: “At 6:15 p.m., a barrage of rockets was fired by Hamas at Israel. At 6:59 p.m. a barrage of around ten rockets was fired by Islamic Jihad from a nearby cemetery. It was at the time, 6:59 p.m. — when there were reports of an explosion at the hospital in Gaza City.”
“According to our intelligence, Hamas checked the reports, understood it was an Islamic Jihad rocket that had misfired — and decided to launch a global media campaign to hide what really happened. They went as far as inflating the number of casualties.
“They understood, with absolute certainty, that it was a rocket misfired by Islamic Jihad — that damaged the hospital. Analysis of our aerial footage confirms that there was no direct hit of the hospital itself. The only location damaged is outside the hospital in the parking lot where we can see signs of burning, no craters and no structural damage to nearby buildings.”
“Many media outlets immediately reported the unverified claims by Hamas. Those were lies spread by Hamas. I want to make something clear: It is impossible to know what happened as quickly as Hamas claimed they knew. That should have been an initial warning sign for many.
“Unlike Hamas, the IDF launched an immediate examination, which was overseen at the very highest levels of command. This professional review was based on intelligence, operational systems, and aerial footage, all of which we cross-checked.
“The evidence — which we are sharing with you — confirms that the explosion at the hospital in Gaza was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired.”
“Since the beginning of the war, approximately 450 rockets that were launched by the terrorist organizations fell inside the Gaza Strip territory. Palestinian civilians pay the price.”
Source: (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)