The Palestinian Observatory “Tahaqaq” refutes the occupation’s claims regarding the “Hamas” shelling of the Anglican Hospital

The Anglican Hospital in Gaza was shelled by the Israeli occupation army.

Various Israeli and Arab news pages, along with journalists, have circulated information claiming that the shelling of the Anglican Hospital in Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of more than 500 victims (according to the initial statistics from the Ministry of Health in Gaza), was carried out by Palestinian “Hamas” rockets and not by the Israeli occupation.

These pieces of information coincided with other statements issued by the Israeli army spokesperson, in which they claimed that a failed launch by the Islamic Jihad party was responsible for the massacre.

The Palestinian Observatory “Tahaqaq” has examined the accuracy of these claims and narratives concerning what happened at the Anglican Hospital massacre and provided the following points:

Firstly, Israeli pages shared a video claiming to document the hospital’s targeting with failed rockets by Hamas, according to their claim. We tracked the origin of the circulated video and found that it’s old, as it was published by an Israeli journalist on August 6, 2022. It’s worth mentioning that the ‘Ikad’ and ‘Masbar’ fact-checking platforms previously debunked the video in 2022 in the context of countering the misleading claims of the occupation, as the Israeli occupation attempted to distance itself from its responsibility for the Jabaliya massacre by sharing this misleading video, in which several children lost their lives.

Secondly, the shelling of the Anglican Hospital in Gaza occurred between 06:59 and the bombing continued in its surroundings until now 07:108 in the evening. During this time, there was a violent wave of shelling in various areas of the Gaza Strip, including areas close to the hospital, as reported by local Palestinian media outlets. This is evident in Al Jazeera’s live coverage, which documented Israeli missile strikes and the movement of ambulance vehicles toward the impact sites. A comparison between the footage from Al Jazeera’s live coverage of the shelling at that time and another video, recorded by a citizen from his house balcony, showing the moment of the missile hitting the hospital, reveals a match in the intensity of the explosion and flames seen in the citizen’s video with the explosions and flames resulting from the Israeli shelling of the targeted areas that were apparent in Al Jazeera’s live coverage at the same time that the hospital was being bombed.

The moment the Anglican Hospital was bombed by the occupation, live on Al Jazeera’s live coverage. The time of the bombing is estimated at 6:59.

Thirdly, this is not the first time that the Israeli occupation has targeted hospitals in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army had warned several Gaza hospitals of evacuation at the beginning of the aggression as a prelude to their shelling, including the Anglican Hospital. This was confirmed by the spokesperson of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qudra, in his official Facebook account, stating that the Israeli occupation had threatened the Anglican Hospital with shelling several times, similar to other Gaza hospitals. He also pointed out that the hospital was targeted two days earlier as an initial warning by the occupation.

It should be noted that a Facebook page called “Israeli Defense Forces in Arabic”, which is an unofficial page supporting the Israeli occupation, published a satirical post in response to the massacre, stating: ‘Due to the shortage of medical supplies and the lack of medical staff, it has been decided to shell the Anglican Hospital in Gaza and grant them a merciful death.