Israel or Palestinian Islamic Jihad? Who bombed the Gaza hospital?

A blast at a Gaza City hospital on Tuesday (17 October) has killed hundreds of Palestinians, evoking widespread condemnation and protests. Palestinian officials in the blockaded Gaza Strip have blamed an Israeli air attack, a charge denied by the West Asian nation. On the other hand, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has claimed that the blast was the result of a rocket misfired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a rival militant group in Gaza. What is known about the Gaza hospital attack? How has the world reacted? Let’s understand. Gaza hospital strike According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 500 people were killed in the blast at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital which it said was caused by an Israeli airstrike. This is the bloodiest single incident in Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes after Hamas’ surprise attack on 7 October. Located in central Gaza, the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is reportedly run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. The Palestinian health ministry said that the hospital was sheltering thousands of displaced people when it was bombed, adding that hundreds were still trapped under the rubble, reported CNN. Mai Alkaila, the Palestinian Authority’s health minister, accused Israel of carrying out “a massacre”, as per an Al Jazeera report. As per an Associated Press (AP) report, footage of the hospital showed the building engulfed in flames, with bodies, including of young children, strewn on the hospital grounds. [caption id=“attachment_13265252” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] People inspect the area of Al-Ahli hospital where hundreds of Palestinians were killed in a blast on 17 October. Reuters[/caption] The World Health Organization (WHO) officials say the death toll ranges between 200 to 800 at the Al-Ahli Hospital as per preliminary estimates, reported New York Times (NYT). “The hospital was operational, with patients, health and care givers, and internally displaced people sheltering there. Early reports indicate hundreds of fatalities and injuries,” the health agency said in a statement. “The hospital was one of 20 in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military,” the WHO added. The IDF has asked Gazans in the north to evacuate and move south amid reports of its expected ground invasion of the narrow enclave. Israel denies involvement The IDF has “categorically” denied any involvement in the hospital strike, putting the onus of the attack on a “failed rocket launch” by the PIJ. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that rockets fired by the PIJ passed by the hospital, which according to him struck the medical facility’s parking lot. He said the hospital was not directly hit but military drone footage showed “a kind of hit in the parking lot”, as per the Al Jazeera report. Hagari admitted that the Israeli Air Force was carrying out an operation in the area at the time of the hospital explosion “but it was with a different kind of ammunition that does not … fit the footage that we have [of] the hospital,” the report added. “An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on X. “Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our possession indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch that hit the hospital in Gaza,” he added.

Later, Hagari told CNN the IDF has intercepted communications between militants in Gaza “saying this is an Islamic Jihad event”. As per AP, the Israeli army spokesman also shared aerial footage captured by a military drone of a blast that he told reporters was “inconsistent with Israeli weaponry”. To back its hospital claim, the Israeli military said that about 450 Palestinian rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip have failed to reach their targets since 7 October, reported The Guardian.  ALSO READ: How Gaza hospital bombing has made Biden’s visit to Israel more challenging What is PIJ? Formed in the 1980s, Palestinian Islamic Jihad is the second-largest armed group in Gaza. Both Hamas and PIJ oppose Israel. “They are the most important members of the joint operations room, which coordinates most military activity among the various armed groups in the tiny coastal enclave of Gaza,” according to an NYT report. Islamic Jihad, which often acts against Israel independently, sometimes gets into a rift with Hamas, mostly when the militant group ruling Gaza asks it to “stop attacks or retaliation against Israel”, the American newspaper reported. As per NYT, rockets fired by PIJ and other Palestinian armed groups have misfired in the past, striking civilian neighbourhoods. However, the PIJ has rebuffed Israel’s allegations of the latest attack on the Gaza hospital. “The Zionist enemy is trying hard to evade its responsibility for the brutal massacre he committed by bombing the Baptist Arab National Hospital in Gaza through his usual fabrication of lies, and through pointing the finger of blame at the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine,” Al Jazeera quoted PIJ’s statement as saying. “We therefore affirm that the accusations put forward by the enemy are false and baseless,” the statement further read. According to Al Jazeera, observers have expressed scepticism over Israel’s allegations, pointing out that in the past it has “falsely” attributed acts by its own forces to armed Palestinian groups. Reactions to Gaza hospital strike The attack on Gaza hospital has been denounced by leaders across the world. The deadly incident has also sparked protests in West Asia. Expressing deep shock at the deadly incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered “heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, and prayers for speedy recovery of those injured.” He said civilian casualties were a “serious and continuing concern” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas , adding that those “involved should be held responsible”.

United States president Joe Biden, who is visiting Israel today, offered “deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the hospital explosion in Gaza”. In the aftermath of the attack, Jordan’s foreign minister said his country cancelled a regional summit on Wednesday in Amman, where Biden was to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, reported AP. Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi reportedly told state-run television that it would host the summit only when everyone agreed the agenda would be to “stop the war, respect the humanity of the Palestinians and deliver the aid they deserve.” A White House official confirmed that Biden is only travelling to Israel now. Saudi Arabia in a statement condemned “in the strongest possible terms the heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces by bombing Al Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza”, reported Al Jazeera. Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has called for a “thorough investigation” into the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital hospital blast. French president Emmanuel Macron said on X that “nothing can justify a strike against a hospital” and that “all the light must be shed on the circumstances”. With inputs from agencies