Lack of crater at Gaza hospital blast site proves it wasn’t Israeli strike: Israel Defence Forces

Jerusalem: Hours after a deadly blast at a civilian hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip killed hundreds of people, Israel on Wednesday claimed that a lack of a crater at the blast site proves that it was not an air strike by its forces as claimed by Hamas-run Health Ministry.

A massive explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital late on Tuesday night killed at least 500 people, Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said.

Apart from the large number of in-house patients at the hospital, there were hundreds of Palestinians who had taken refuge at the hospital over the last two to three days after Israel had asked civilians from the northern Gaza Strip areas to move south. The Palestinians taking refuge at the hospital had hoped that they would be spared Israel’s bombardment.

Asserting that Israel wasn’t behind the strike, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) published drone footage that it said proves that the deadly blast at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital’s parking lot was not caused by its ordnance, which it said, “would have left a crater and not a burning parking lot and shrapnel-pocked roofs.”

The drone video shows the hospital’s parking lot where a large fire was caused in the area as a result of the blast, but there is no crater. “Israeli strikes generally leave large holes in the ground,” the IDF said.

The drone footage also points to shrapnel that landed on the roof of the nearby buildings, which remain largely intact.

IDF also released a soundtrack, which it claimed, was “a communication between terrorists talking about rocket misfiring” and said, the terrorists realised that the rocket had misfired and made specific reference to the Al-Ahli Madani Hospital. Israel, instead, blamed it on what it called a “failed rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.”

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller, more radical Palestinian militant group that often cooperates with Hamas in their shared struggle against Israel, has dismissed Israel’s allegation.

However, Israel’s claim was corroborated by other video footage, including that of an Al Jazeera news channel’s live stream, circulating since the incident. The Qatari TV network is often blamed for being biased against Israel and has been at loggerheads with the Israeli establishment.

Since the unprecedented attack by Hamas in southern Israel areas bordering Gaza on October 7, there have been more than 1,400 killed, most of them civilians, and about 200 people taken captive in Gaza.

In turn, Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 2,778 people. Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead, health authorities in Gaza said.

Soon after the devastating hospital blast, Jordan cancelled a planned summit with US President Joe Biden, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordan's King Abdullah II stating that “it would not be able to stop the war now.”

Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday on a mission “to contain the Israeli-Hamas conflict and encourage delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.” His trip to Jordan stood cancelled as the summit was cancelled, US officials said.