After Hamas, Arab states blame Israel, IDF says analysis shows errant rocket fired by Gazan terror group hit Al-Ahli hospital's parking lot; videos appear to back Israel's position
Attached is a recording of a conversation between Hamas operatives regarding the Islamic Jihad failed rocket launch on the hospital on October 17, 2023: https://bit.ly/3S4xqiG
We're seeing an Israeli news source followed by an IDF statement with IDF evidence, so a conflict of interest does exist with these sources, though that doesn't mean either is lying. That being said, if Israel did deliberately target a hospital in Gaza with as many eyes on Gaza as there are, that'd be a really fucking stupid move. At the same time, If they did, lying and completely fabricating everything is in their highest interest. At minimum, though, I think that any trustworthiness one would associate with journalists or military Intel be thrown out, and the evidence be viewed with skepticism
We're still in the fog of war, and simultaneously a war for our minds and support is being waged. I am going to wait for more information from more parties to arrive.
EDIT: I previously stated the tweet I linked claimed the missile was moving north east, which it doesn't - that's my misphrasing. The tweet I linked specifically repeats the falling shrapnel story - though the evidence they show shows the camera looking southeast, with the missile coming from said direction towards the camera. I've rewritten it to be more clear.
Something that occurs to me that I can't really get out of my head is perhaps Israel using it's iron dome system to intercept missiles so that the shrapnel lands inside Gaza. I don't know much about the iron dome system, nor what the alternatives to making missile shrapnel fall on civilians are.
If anyone with more knowledge about these things could weigh in, I'd appreciate it.
No shot a Hamas rocket has that kind of firepower, especially after detonation.
If you watch the comparison video, it sounds very much like a US JDAM rig (which is like a strap-on guidance system for normally-dumb ordinance; so instead of just falling from a plane and hoping for the best, it can aim and steer to a target.
Yeah, they didn't shoot that, it was the Palestinian Islamic Jihad according to the evidence delievered by Israel. Not the same groups, although they coordinate sometimes. But Hamas went right out of the gate blaming Israel despite apparently knowing better, and that's just not a good look at all if true.
Hey guys, specifically targeting, torturing, and murdering hundreds of civilians was fine - but we should really draw the line at lying online. That's just barbarous.
I mean, could he have been refering to a different location? According to the Israel briefing, there was no activity of theirs at that time in the area of the hospital. I imagine there is a lot going on on both sides in all kinds of locations at all times at the moment.
I wonder where all the people from yesterday are now...for them it was damn sure Israel and if you made the mistake to publish this second opinion or made the suggestion to wait for other sources your were downvoted into oblivion...
But also with this new source I would wait until it is verified independently. I really like this approach from our german news station Tagesschau, where all news get a label until they are verified by different, independent sources. Makes fake news a lot less common.
just to be very clear here: Even if this cruel and should be absolutely prevented, when the space around or the medical facility itself is used by the enemy forces to launch attacks or store ammunition or other equipment, it makes it a valid, military target. Attacking a hospital is not automatically a war crime as it is declared by many here...
They don't care that they were wrong. The next time Hamas claims Israel did something bad they will believe it instantly and only question whatever IDF says. It's not about the truth but what they wished the truth was.
I'm skeptical of both claims, but so far the evidence leans far more on it being Israeli strike. Especially with their continuously changing narrativem
Not saying that there are vile people that are just rooting for their football team no matter what happens, but I did fine here offering the opinion that both statements were - at the time - equally not backed by evidence. I did mention, that the Guardian did mention that the size of explosion is more than usual for the weapons of the militants, but even that didn't necessearily mean that it was Israel.
If we're looking at this we should look at all neews criticial, especially if one supports a side over the other. It's too easy to fall for hopeful rumours and fantasies anyways. Seen too many people who just go on any unbacked claim by either side "aha! I knew it". It's a volatile and chaotic situation and a lot of bad actors just try to score points.
Also quick reminder that Hamas rockets can't cause the scale of destruction that happened to the hospital. This is much more believable from an IDF airstrike.
At the very least, you should look at all evidence given to us before making a judgement.
Alone that you are saying "Hamas" rockets shows that you have not really dove into the topic. Because not even Israel claimed it was Hamas, but Islamic Jihad, which is a distinct group. Furthermore, they also had an argument regarding the increased damage.
I suggest you look at what we know first, before you make a judgement like "99.9%". This disinformation shit happens on both sides and it must be stopped. The situation doesn't get any clearer by people doing this.
I addressed this mysterious deleted tweet above, but TL;DR the guy is an influencer and that should tell you all you need to know about believing anything he says.
Very compelling evidence, especially if it gets verified. They even adressed the question mark of it being more damage than these groups usually do when their missiles hit. It would be very high stakes lying, but then again, this is a high stakes situation. Whoever did that has a lot of innocent blood on their hands.
Lots of Islamic Jihad & Hamas missiles fail during flight and kill Palestinians. Israel had published videos in the past showing e.g. 8 launches at night, pausing the video and showing how 2 or 3 suddenly turn down to the ground to hit the Gaza strip. And of course the local terrorist groups accounted dead Palestinians to Israel striking those locations. It's sometimes easy to show, with visible rocket engines at night and sometimes harder.
On how a rocket fired from Gaza could cause so much damage he said:
The existence of propellant made a larger explosion than the warhead itself. And this caused the damage, the explosions that we see of the burning cars here.
On the other hand you attached a picture that shows a rocket launch site that is quite a long way from the Hospital - or is this the cemetery those men in the voice recording were talking about?
Thousands of missiles were fired from Gaza last week, and apparently none of them turned around and struck Gaza. On the other hand Israel has been conducting a bombing campaign this week that has blown up a whole lot of buildings, including (according to the NYT) 4 other hospitals.. It is obviously possible that this was an errant missile from Gaza, it is much more likely that this was a bomb from Israel.
Bro just watch the video of Hamas rocket impacts and compare it against the hospital impact, there is no fucking way that's a homemade sewer pipe rocket.
and apparently none of them turned around and struck Gaza.
5-20% depending on the type of missile/rocket generally land inside the Strip. They don't use aerospace grade materials, so imperfections that wouldn't cause a problem in 100 years of use as an irrigation pipe end up failing on the multiple G forces associated with rocketry.
Does anyone have sources on what kind of missiles Palestinian groups typically have access to? I think that would be very useful in evaluating the claims being made.
Those are all rockets that claim to have been used. Notably most were caught trying to enter Gaza because they're goddamn huge. 99% of everything fired from Gaza is going to be homemade, small and slow as fuck which is why iron dome even though it's not particularly sophisticated compared to ciws of major nations.
I would count that as having access to them. But that by itself doesn't answer the question of what exactly they're able to build and if it's big enough to do as much damage as we saw. Based on someone else's link it looks like they do have missiles big enough to do catastrophic damage to a large building, especially if they crash right after takeoff and are full of propellant. That was a surprise to me. It's not proof of anything but it does make Israel's story seem more plausible.
Islamic Jihad, a group separate from Hamas and not getting missiles from Iran, cobbles together their own home-made rocket made out of duck tape and twine and fires it at Israel. The rocket, unsurprisingly, falls apart and part of it falls on the parking lot of Gaza city hospital, killing about a dozen or so people. Hamas rushes to the scene and asks how many are dead. Gaza hospital says 500 - 12 from the missile and 488 from the ... you know siege and food/medicine blockade.
Hamas knows that the IDF has targeted this hospital before and had no doubt that they would it again, and since the missile didn't come from them, releases a press release saying the IDF bombed a hospital and 500 are dead. This makes President Abbas call off his meeting with Biden and throws a wrench in the peace process, just what Hamas wants.
The IDF initially just say "Hamas did it," and if you disagree we've got this new law that jails reporters for saying bad stuff about Israel. Then they release a video footage of a different rocket barrage that has nothing to do with anything. Biden comes over and goes: "Come on, this isn't the cold war, it's the information age. We've got like 10 live web cams throughout Gaza city streaming, OSINT probably got it. If you didn't do it, there ain't any reason to lie about it."
Of course, that is just what I got from Lemmy, so probably a mix of propaganda from both sides. Feel free to yell all the corrections in the world in the replies.