Hamas Vows to Release Evidence That Israel Bombed Gaza Hospital

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. 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.

The IDF also published what it said was an intercepted phone call between two militants discussing the accident and citing a PIJ rocket as the cause.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the head of the IDF spokesperson unit, said that an Israeli investigation "confirmed that there was no IDF fire from the land, sea or air that hit the hospital."

The lack of structural damage to surrounding buildings and the lack of a significant crater, he added, suggest the damage was not caused by an airstrike. His conclusion appears to have been supported by independent open-source intelligence analysis of the impact site.

Skeptics noted the size of the explosion and subsequent fire, suggesting that militant rockets are not capable of producing such destruction and casualties. Hagari said that "most of this damage would have been done due to the propellant, not just the warhead."

Contacted for comment on Hamas' vow to present its own evidence, the IDF spokesperson's unit told Newsweek it had nothing to add to briefings by Hagari and other military officials.

Biden Intervenes

Protests erupted across the Middle East and beyond following the explosion, which prompted Jordanian King Abdullah II to cancel a planned summit in Amman between President Joe Biden and top Egyptian and Palestinian officials.

Arriving in Israel on Wednesday, Biden suggested that Israel was not to blame. "Based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you," the president said during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "But there's a lot of people out there not sure, so we have to overcome a lot of things."

Barhoum disputed Biden's assertion. "The only one responsible for all the massacres committed against the residents of Gaza is the Israeli occupation, and everyone witnessed the crime committed by the Israeli occupation by bombing civilians in the Baptist Hospital, killing more than 500 Palestinian civilians from Gaza and a large number of wounded."

"The massacres are still continuing, and shortly before the occupation bombed houses over the heads of their residents and dozens of civilian casualties."

"To date, there are three hospitals that the occupation has threatened to bomb, including the Kuwaiti Hospital in the city of Rafah, Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, and Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza."

Biden told reporters on Wednesday that Hamas has "committed evil atrocities that make ISIS look somewhat rational."

"The American administration is a direct partner with the Israeli occupation in these massacres because of the financial, political and military support it provides to it, and a cover to continue committing them," Barhoum said.

"The attempt by the American president and the occupation Prime Minister Netanyahu, to describe Hamas as ISIS is an attempt to demonize Hamas and distort its reputation in order to convince the world to stand against Hamas."

"Hamas defends our people with legitimate resistance, and this is our right to defend our people and liberate our land."

Netanyahu has described the Israeli campaign against Gaza as "unprecedented." Since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza had reported—before the hospital deaths—at least 2,778 people killed by Israeli strikes and 9,700 wounded, according to The Associated Press.

The Israeli strikes followed a surprise Hamas infiltration and rocket attack into southern Israel on October 7. The assault—named "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood"—killed more than 1,400 people and wounded scores more. Some 200 were taken back to the Gaza Strip by militants as hostages.

Update 10/18/23, 9:30 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include more information about the explosion and fire at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, and comment from the IDF.

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