ADDS REMARKS FROM ISRAELI FORCES
By Abdul Raouf Arnout and Esra Tekin
JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL (AA) - The Israeli military reiterated its accusation that the Islamic Jihad Movement was responsible for an explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in northern Gaza that killed hundreds and injured many others.
"We confirm that it was a failed rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad," spokesperson Daniel Haggari said at a news conference in Tel Aviv, referring to a separate group from Hamas that Israel has vowed to eradicate.
"The damage analysis at the hospital, based on our aerial images, indicates that there was no direct hit on the hospital itself, and the only damage occurred outside the hospital in the car garage," said Haggari.
He asserted that the damage from the explosion site "is unlike the damage caused by any aerial ammunition, which would have had a different nature."
"After a comprehensive investigation and the study of all operational and intelligence systems, it is clear that the Israeli army did not attack the Al-Muaddani Hospital in the Gaza Strip," he added, using another name for the hospital.
The Israeli military later shared a radar map on X, alleging it proves Islamic Jihad struck the hospital and a rocket launched from the besieged Gaza Strip fell short of its intended target and hit the facility.
The Israeli military claimed the map, based on radar systems, demonstrated the paths of rockets launched from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also claimed on X that "Palestinian factions are responsible for the hospital's shelling."
The Turkish government’s anti-disinformation arm late Tuesday strongly rebuffed “false” Israeli claims about the airstrike, which killed 500 victims, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
“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 X.
“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,” it said.
The Center cited a recent statement in which “the Israeli army demanded the immediate evacuation of hospitals, alleging that they were being used as shelters” for Hamas, bolstering the case that it was Israel that carried out the deadly airstrike and it did it deliberately.