In this in-depth video, we delve into the Al Ahli Hospital attack in Gaza and examine Israel’s track record of misinformation.
“Israel does not Target hospitals” This is what Israeli officials have consistently repeated since the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Palestine’s Gaza was struck killing at least 500 people including women and children.
“Israel does not Target places like hospitals they’re not a target for us and we wouldn’t have deliberately hit a hospital” but there are conflicting statements coming from the Israeli side pointing out by some as misinformation and this is not the first time it has happened.
Between October 12 to 15 right before the Al Ahli Arab Hospital strike the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs and Relief Web (OCHA) recorded 21 Israeli attacks targeting Palestinian Health personnel that killed both civilians and UN staff at the UN’s World Health Organization, on the other hand, has confirmed 136 attacks on health care workers in besieged Gaza between October 7 and 17.
This could be a breach of international law according to the First and Fourth Geneva Conventions which states “Hospitals and safety zones are intended to shelter the wounded the sick and civilians from the effect of conflict and are meant to be far removed from military operations.”
Hananya Naftali a member of Netanyahu’s social media team boasted immediately after the air strike in a since-deleted tweet on X that the “Israeli Army had bombed the hospital” He later took to X to blame writers for falsely stating Israel had struck the hospital so as Netanyahu’s digital communication Aide shouldn’t you first authenticate information before making such a public statement
In a similar manoeuvre, the state of Israel’s official page posted a video on X which it claimed proved the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group was responsible for the attack the post was later edited and the video was deleted as the time stamps didn’t match the time of the attack as per the Turkish Communications Director Center for Combating Disinformation.
Later an audio allegedly of Hamas was released on X by the Israeli Army’s official account the voice in the audio claimed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were behind the attack saying they shot it from the cemetery behind the hospital however Israeli Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari posted a photo on X that shows the rocket was launched from a location down in the southwest.
These are self-conflict reports that do raise eyebrows and in the words of US politician Sam Parker, ‘they can’t even get their story straight’ This has made a lot of people wonder: if Israel knew the exact locations where missiles were being fired from all along why are innocent civilians and children been targeted.
Instead Israel’s recent strike, its track records and its history of targeting healthcare workers and facilities make it very difficult to believe the Israeli Army is not to blame for the Al Ahli Arab Hospital attack, we all remember when the
Israeli Army failed to provide evidence regarding the 40 beheaded babies a fake news story that was initially spread by Israeli Media or when the Israeli Army blamed Palestinian Fighters for the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh only to apologize a year later saying she was indeed killed by Israeli soldiers.
However the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital doesn’t come as a surprise the Israeli Army had previously warned 22 hospitals of looming strikes forcing more than 2,000 patients in the northern Gaza to evacuate to Southern Gaza just the day after the Al Ahli Arab Hospital was hit 12 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli air strike in the South the World Health Organization termed “Israel’s sending of an evacuation warning a death sentence for the sick and injured.”
