After the bombing of a hospital in Gaza, Israel and Hamas accuse each other of being behind the airstrike. If Israel says it has proof of the guilt of the Islamist group, the Jewish state is held responsible by several countries.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has entered a new phase since the terrible bombing of a hospital in Gaza. Israel and the armed groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad accuse each other of having fired on the Al-Ahli Arabi hospital and causing several hundred deaths and injuries. The Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, puts a toll of 471 dead and 314 injured according to the latest figures.
In an almost immediate reaction, Hamas accused the Israeli army of being behind these “new war crimes”. Israel immediately and firmly denied being the author of the strike and placed the blame on Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian armed group close to Hamas. While the Jewish state and the Palestinian group have been exchanging airstrikes for more than ten days, it is still difficult to determine who was responsible for the strike that hit the hospital. However, some countries do not hesitate to denounce a culprit while the Jewish state claims to have “proof” of the involvement of Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Israel’s first reaction was defense. “We did not hit this hospital. We are not intentionally hitting any sensitive installation, and certainly not hospitals. We are very aware of the presence of civilians,” Jonathan Conricus, the international spokesperson for the Israeli army.
Not only to defend its camp, the IDF assured that the strike on the Al-Ahli Arabi hospital “was caused by the firing of a failed Islamic Jihad rocket.” Spokesman Daniel Hagari says he bases his analysis “on intelligence, operational systems and aerial images, all of which have been cross-checked” and argues that the rocket attack was launched from a cemetery with the initial aim of hitting on Israel.
Among the evidence Israel says it has is an audio recording, and its transcription, between two Hamas leaders discussing an Islamic Jihad rocket attack. The shot in question would have been launched from a cemetery located behind the Al-Ma’amadani hospital (former name of the Al-Ahli hospital affected by the strike, editor’s note), according to the exchange.
Israel also believes that the hospital was not hit by a strike, but by an explosion caused by the failure of the rocket fire. The Israeli army released a video intended to prove the validity of its argument and the responsibility of Jihad and Hamas. According to the IDF, there is no crater or other evidence to prove that an airstrike caused the hospital explosion. It also highlights the absence of structural damage around the medical establishment. No verification of these elements has been made.
If Israel defends itself, the country is judged guilty by several states, notably the countries of the Arab world whose relations with Israel are complex. Saudi Arabia, which ended talks to normalize relations with Israel after the start of the war on October 7, believes that the bombing of the Gaza hospital is a “heinous crime committed by the occupying forces Israelis. Jordan, a neighbor of the Jewish state, also believes that Israel “bears responsibility for this serious incident”. Qatar, Kuwait and Oman also described the strike on the hospital as an “Israeli attack”. Note that these countries have not signed a peace treaty with Israel.
Other positions are less frank, such as that of Egypt, which decreed a three-day national mourning for the victims who died or were injured in the strike on the hospital and expressed its solidarity for “all the martyrs among the people Palestinian brother. The country does not, however, directly point to Israel’s responsibility.
Conversely, American President Joe Biden bluntly declared his support for Israel and considered that the strike on the hospital was the work of “the opposing party”, from Tel Aviv where he was traveling this Wednesday 18 october. As for the rest of the international community, it does not take sides but denounces the horror of the tragedy. “There is no excuse for hitting a hospital full of medical staff and civilians,” said the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, who believes that the “terror of Hamas” plunges it into a new ” spiral of violence. In this wake, Emmanuel Macron recalled international law which prohibits attacking hospitals and called for “respect for humanitarian law”.
It was the Al-Ahli Arabi hospital, one of 22 medical establishments in northern Gaza, which was hit. Formerly known as Al-Ma’amadani Hospital, the facility is run by Anglican Christians, including the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, and had served as a refuge for Palestinians since the strikes began. The same hospital had already been hit by rocket fire on October 14, according to a statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
