By Merve Berker
ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish government’s anti-disinformation arm late Tuesday strongly rebuffed “false” Israeli claims about airstrikes on a hospital in Gaza, which reportedly killed some 500 people, shocking the world.
“The claim that '(Palestinian group) Hamas, not Israel, carried out the attack' on the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza's al-Zaytoun neighbourhood is false," the Communications Directorate’s Center for Combating Disinformation said on the social media platform X.
"The al-Zaytoun neighbourhood in the north of Gaza is an area where hundreds of civilians have been killed in days of intense Israeli bombardment," it added.
“When the footage of the hospital bombing is examined, it becomes obvious that the ammunition that had the effect of destroying the area was not the type that Hamas had previously employed,” the statement stressed.
Analysis of false media posts found that “images shared by Israeli propaganda accounts claiming that a 'Hamas missile hit the hospital' were from 2022,” not 2023, it added.
The center also cited a recent statement in which “the Israeli army demanded the immediate evacuation of hospitals, alleging that they were being used as shelters,” bolstering the case that it was Israeli forces that carried out the deadly airstrike, and that it did so deliberately.
"The claim shared on some social media accounts that 'Gaza's official account admits that Hamas carried out the hospital attack' is not true,” the center noted, pointing out that the “'Gaza Report' account cited as the basis for the claim is not the official account of Gaza or any Palestinian institution,"
In fact, it said, "It has been determined that the account was used for manipulation purposes."
"Do not believe unfounded claims," it added.
-Deadly bombing
More than 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Anadolu.
Footage showed corpses scattered across the hospital grounds.
According to an Anadolu reporter, thousands of Palestinians were at the hospital when the building came under bombardment.
The Israeli army, for its part, said reports of a possible airstrike on the hospital “are still under review.”
A spokesman said that he does not know yet if the blast at the hospital was an Israeli strike.
Palestinian group Hamas called Israel's targeting of the hospital a "genocide."
-Siege and airstrikes
Eleven days into the conflict with Palestinian group Hamas, Israel's bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip continued, with over one million people displaced – almost half of Gaza's total population, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA.
The fighting began on Oct. 7 when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased violence by Israeli settlers.
The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening the living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.
At least 3,061 Palestinians have been killed and 13,750 others have been injured in the ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry in Gaza said.
More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed in the armed conflict.