The Palestinians rushed to blame Israel on Tuesday for the explosion that reportedly killed hundreds in a Gaza hospital, but their version was soon rebutted by Jerusalem.
The IDF officially announced that the blast at the Al-Ma'madani Hospital in the center of the Strip, which led to the deaths of between hundreds and dozens of Palestinians, was the result of a failed rocket launch carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Video: The failed rocket launch by PIJ that caused the Gaza hospital explosion / Al Jazeera (Screengrab)
The anti-Israel Qatari network Al-Jazeera also aired footage showing that a failed rocket launch from Gaza exploded within the Gaza Strip on the premises, just minutes before channels associated with Hamas reported a "strike" against the hospital in Gaza.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also rebuffed the Palestinians' accusations, writing on Twitter: "An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit. Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza." The Al-Ahli Hospital is the new name of Al-Ma'amadani Hospital.
The Palestinians claim that the destruction is the result of deliberate Israeli aggression, and they even called it a "massacre" of hundreds. The explosion occurred in the hospital's courtyard, and the main cause of the high number of casualties is the Palestinians' turning hospital premises into shelters, in part because Hamas has stopped them from evacuating south as Israel has asked them to do.
Video: The failed rocket launch by PIJ that caused the Gaza hospital explosion / Israeli security cameras
Following Hamas' false reports, calls began to be heard on social media for angry protests in the streets of Palestinian cities in the West Bank and after "the massacre Israel committed."
In the midst of this, Hamas issued an official statement calling for international intervention and the intervention of Arab states to stop the war.
President Isaac Herzog also issued a statement rebuffing the Palestinians' claim, saying the following: "An Islamic Jihad missile has killed many Palestinians at a Gazan hospital - a place where lives should be saved. Shame on the media who swallow the lies of Hamas and Islamic Jihad - broadcasting a 21st-century blood libel around the globe. Shame on the vile terrorists in Gaza who wilfully spill the blood of the innocent. Never before has the choice been clearer. Israel is standing against an enemy made of pure evil. If you stand for humanity - for the value of all human life - you stand with Israel."
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