Misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad Rocket Responsible for Hospital Explosion, IDF Says

The IDF said Tuesday that a hospital blast that reportedly claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians earlier in the day was caused by a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a terrorist group operating within the Gaza Strip.

“On October 17, at around 19:00, the PIJ fired a missile salvo toward Israel,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry wrote in an official statement. “One of the missiles misfired, landing on the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, causing severe damage, killing at least several Palestinians and injuring many more. ”

“According to intelligence information, from several sources we have, the PIJ organization is responsible for the failed [rocket] fire that hit the hospital,” the IDF said. According to the Israeli military’s analysis of “operational systems, an enemy rocket barrage was carried out towards Israel, which passed in the vicinity of the hospital, when it was hit,” the statement added.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health, a government body under the control of Hamas, previously claimed that an Israeli air strike was responsible for the hospital explosion. The ministry said that an estimated 500 civilians were killed in the blast. The body’s original statement was cited by international media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Al Jazeera, and the Associated Press, which singled out Israeli culpability in the attack.

Progressive House members, including Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) as well as Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), cited articles relying on the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports to denounce the White House for supporting Israel and ignoring calls for an immediate ceasefire. “Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that,” Tlaib wrote on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday afternoon.

“@POTUS this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help de-escalate. Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslims Americans like me. We will remember where you stood,” the representative warned.

“Bombing a hospital is among the gravest of war crimes. The IDF reportedly blowing up one of the few places the injured and wounded can seek medical treatment and shelter during a war is horrific,” Omar wrote in a similar message on Tuesday. “@POTUS needs to push for an immediate ceasefire to end this slaughter.”

Images have circulated online showing Hamas announcing on Telegram, a social-media network, minutes before the hospital strike that the terrorist group was set to launch long-range missiles capable of striking the city of Haifa in northern Israel.

The news drew Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to condemn Hamas in an official statement. “So the whole world knows: The barbaric terrorists in Gaza are the ones who attacked the Gaza hospital, not the IDF,” he says in a statement. “Those who cruelly murdered our children, murder their children as well.”

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would not be attending his forthcoming meeting with President Joe Biden on Wednesday as a result of the mass casualty event.