Hamas has said it will provide the international community with evidence proving Israeli culpability in Tuesday’s explosion at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, that reportedly killed hundreds and has been blamed by Israel on a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket fired that went off course.
The disaster at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital has supercharged Israeli-Palestinian tensions amid the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The IDF has already released video, satellite, and intercepted phone call evidence it says shows it was not involved.
But an official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday that the group is collecting evidence that he said proved Israeli responsibility. “Hamas has a committee that collects all evidence of the Israeli occupation’s responsibility for the massacres in Gaza and the Baptist Hospital massacre as well,” spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum told Newsweek.
“There is a lot of evidence, eyewitnesses, and videos from Hamas about the occupation committing the Baptist Hospital massacre and the wreckage of rockets. Hamas will publish all the evidence to the world that confirms this massacre was committed intentionally, and will present it to international jurisdictions,” the Hamas official added, though did not offer a timeframe.
“The Baptist Hospital massacre was committed with Israeli guided missiles and came hours after the Israeli Shin Bet contacted hospital officials more than once, and threatened to bomb the hospital,” Barhoum added.
Newsweek, which was unable to independently verify the cause of the explosion or the number of casualties, has contacted the White House by email and IDF spokespeople by WhatsApp to request comment. The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip has reported that at least 500 people were killed in the incident.
The IDF published video footage that it said showed a barrage of rockets being fired near the hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. One projectile, it said, failed and went off course, landing in the vicinity of the hospital and causing a large fire.
Read more at Newsweek.com
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