A lot of people are lying about a devastating, deadly strike on a Gaza hospital
We just don't know for sure which side did it and is lying about it.
One of these stories that makes you too depressed and anxious to do any actual work for the rest of the day:
Preliminary estimates indicate between 200 to 300 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the center of Gaza City, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said in a statement Tuesday, noting many people still remained beneath the rubble.
The Palestinian government in Gaza said in an earlier statement that the strike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital had resulted in dozens of deaths.
“A new war crime committed by the occupation in the bombing of Al-Ahli Arabi Hospital in the center of Gaza City, resulting in the arrival of dozens of martyrs and injured at Al-Shifa Medical Complex due to the bombing. It should be noted that the hospital housed hundreds of patients, wounded, and displaced people from their homes forcibly due to the airstrikes,” the government statement said.
Hamas released a statement on the strike, calling it a "genocide."
“The Al-Ahli Hospital Massacre in the heart of Gaza Strip is a genocide. Enough silence on the aggression and recklessness of the occupation,” Hamas said in a statement.
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the IDF is looking into the reported strike, saying since it was fairly recent, the IDF is still unclear whether the hospital was hit by an Israeli Air Force (IAF) strike or failed Hamas launch.
You know where I stand on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But I am not so militantly pro-Israel that I refuse to believe the IDF could have done this.
I should hope people on the “other side” of the conflict are not so militantly anti-Israel that they refuse to believe Hamas could have been responsible for this.
Alas, the same people who spent last week insisting we shouldn’t rush to judgment about whether Hamas murdered Israeli babies or whether they were mysteriously all dead before Hamas arrived, have already completed their comprehensive investigation:
The Israelis, for their part, say it was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket which struck the hospital, presumably by accident. I’m more inclined to take Israel’s word than that of fucking Hamas, but they obviously aren’t an unbiased observer, either.
At the moment (just after 4pm Eastern on Tuesday, in case events overtake this post), social media is the complete dumpster fire you’d expect, with pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian commentators working overtime to promote unconfirmed reports, passing off old videos as new, and even faking news reports and prominent figures’ “deleted tweets.” Today is a better day than usual to stay far, far away.
In the coming days, hopefully more information will come out and give us a clearer picture of who was responsible for this devastating attack and/or accident and/or tragedy and/or war crime.
I’ll put my cards on the table: as a supporter of Israel I hope the IDF didn’t do this. But I will do my best to follow the evidence wherever it leads, and adjust my opinions accordingly.
I wish everyone, whichever side they’re on, would do the same. Unfortunately, I think a narrative has taken hold, people - not just in Israel and Gaza - will die as a result, and if it turns out Hamas or another Palestinian group is responsible, the genie is out of the bottle.
Some horror stories are too good not to exploit, regardless of whether or not they’re true.
This is one of those events in which things are going to be bad, whichever way it plays out. A shit sandwich in which the only question is the shade of brown that ends up in the sandwich.
Thank you for your always fair-minded and thoughtful support, without being closed to the possibility of being wrong, for Israel.