4 ms·
The evidence from reputable OSINT orgs like Bellingcat is pretty-much showing evidence that this was an accident on the part of Palistinian fighters. There are
by Pxtl 3y ago
The evidence from reputable OSINT orgs like Bellingcat is pretty-much showing evidence that this was an accident on the part of Palistinian fighters.
There are multiple videos showing a volley of rockets were launched from within Gaza (not from Bellingcat, but other OSINT groups -- Bellingcat not ready to make a final conclusion here). One of the rockets appeared to fail while it was rising - it swerved wildly and then went dark. Then the explosion happened very nearby. Of course, there's a chance the videos are fake in some way, but that's what we've seen so far.
edit: Al Jazeera believes that the rocket did not fail, but was destroyed by Iron Dome defenses, and still believes that the explosion is an Israeli airstrike. They haven't really provided any evidence of the latter, only the former. Personally I'm thinking it's possible that the explosion in the courtyard was still caused by this event even if AJ is correct that Iron Dome shot the missile down. No other major news source seems to be following up on the "iron dome" angle.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/19/what-hit-ahli-hospital-in-gaza https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/19/what-hit-ahli-hosp...
Bellingcat has photos of the impact crater - it's small, much too small for Israeli airstrike weapons.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/10/18/identifying-possible-crater-from-gaza-hospital-blast/ https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/10/18/identifying-possi...
So what it sounds like is that there was an encampment of Palestinians who were taking refuge in the parking-lot/courtyard of this hospital, the rocket failed, and some or all of its explosives and fuel fell into this courtyard and killed a large number of people.
And yes, this is fundamentally the expected outcome of waging a war in an area the size of Montreal or Pittsburgh with even higher population density. Especially since the nearest major targets are north of Gaza, and Gaza's densest area is the northern-half of the strip.
These are weapons maintained and often built in the blockaded open-air prison of Gaza, they're not exactly Raytheon products -- a certain number of failures is to be expected and failures with offensive rockets are going to be incredibly dangerous to bystanders. I wouldn't be surprised if those rockets have killed more of their own people than Israelis.
I oppose the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians, but the facts are the facts.
edit2: My opinion is that this was almost certainly an accident. Either a Palistinian rocket failed, or possibly if AJ is telling the truth the Iron Dome accidentally caused the explosion (either directly or indirectly) when attempting to shoot down the rocket volley.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> evidence from reputable OSINT orgs like Bellingcat Do you have a link to their findings?
- mupuff1234 3y agoNot OSINT, but the BBC and the guardian going over some of the evidence: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/18/al-ahli-arab-hospital-piecing-together-what-happened-as-israel-insists-militant-rocket-to-blame https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/18/al-ahli-arab-h... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67144061 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67144061
- hersko 3y agoBBC is absolutely biased on the current conflict and should in no way be considered trustworthy.
- musiciangames 3y agoUseful links. Noteworthy that the Guardian reports 'The hospital had also been targeted last week' where I suspect 'The hospital had also been hit last week'. Or do they have evidence it was targeted?
- selectodude 3y agoThe hospital had been targeted in that it was on a key list of locations that the IDF told people to evacuate from.
- hcrisp 3y agoAlso AP News with multiple videos: Headline" "AP Visual Analysis: Rocket from Gaza appeared to go astray, likely caused deadly hospital explosion" https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-hospital-rocket-gaza-e0fa550faa4678f024797b72132452e3 https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-hos...
- _kbh_ 3y ago