Clashes between Palestinian soldiers and the Israeli government have been blamed since the bombing of Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City that killed hundreds of Palestinians. But analysis of publicly available photos and images is starting to provide clues to the cause of the explosion.
CNN reviewed a number of videos posted on television, aired on television and shot by CNN's special correspondents working in Gaza, as well as satellite images to piece together the facts in as much detail as possible.
No decision can be made without entering the area and collecting evidence from the ground. But CNN analysis showed that a rocket fired into Gaza was destroyed and the hospital explosion was caused by part of the rocket landing on the hospital.
Weapons and explosives experts with years of experience analyzing bomb damage who have reviewed the video evidence told CNN they believe this is the most likely scenario - although they warned it would be difficult to survive without weapons or ammunition. Indeed, they agreed that the evidence of damage in the area was inconsistent with the Israeli Air Force.
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday, backed by US intelligence, that Israel said the explosion was caused by a "defective" missile made by the Islamic Jihad terror group. A National Security Council spokesman later said an analysis of photos, comments and surveillance data showed Israel "was not responsible."
Palestinian and Arab leaders accuse Israel of attacking a hospital in Gaza airstrikes. The anti-Hamas group Islamic Jihad (PIJ) denied responsibility.
Injured women and children sit on the floor of Al-Shifa Hospital following an explosion at Ahli Baptist Hospital on Tuesday, 17 October.
Abed Khaled/AP
The war between Israel and Hamas has triggered a wave of misinformation and claims and fake news online. Misinformation and divisive debates make it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.
In the past few days, many media have released information about the explosion at Ahli Hospital. Others have reached different conclusions, highlighting the difficulties of such remote analysis.
But as more information surfaces, CNN’s investigation – which includes a review of nighttime video of the explosion, and horrifying images of those injured and killed inside the hospital complex – is an effort to shed light on details of the blast beyond what Israel and the US have produced publicly.
A flash of light in the dark
Courtesy “Al Jazeera” - Gaza City, October 17
On Tuesday evening, a barrage of rocket fire illuminated the night sky over Gaza before the deadly blast, according to videos analyzed by CNN.
An Al Jazeera camera, located in western Gaza and facing east, was broadcasting live on the channel at 6:59 p.m. local time on Tuesday night, according to the timestamp. The footage appears to show a rocket fired from Gaza traveling in an upwards trajectory before reversing direction and exploding, leaving a brief, bright streak of light in the night sky above Gaza City. Just moments later, two blasts are visible on the ground, including one at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
By confirming the location of the cameras, CNN determined that the rocket was launched from an area south of Gaza City. CNN reported on the explosion at the hospital, as well as nearby buildings on the west side of the site. Photos taken by CNN from a home in Tel Aviv pointing south to Gaza showed a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza before the shooting.
Several weapons experts told CNN that the Al Jazeera video appeared to show the rocket burning in the air before hitting the hospital, but they could not say the two incidents were related due to statistical issues. The rocket malfunctions or changes course mid-flight.
"I believe this happened - the rocket malfunctioned and didn't land anywhere. Apparently for some reason it fell mid-air and the rocket itself landed in the parking lot. There, the rest of the fuel burned, cars and other fuel burned in the hospital, which triggered the largest explosion we've ever seen," Markus Schiller, a European weapons expert who has worked on NATO and EU investigations, told Us CNN.
"But I can't confirm that. If something went wrong with the rocket... it would be impossible to predict its flight and trajectory, so I cannot rely on previous analysis of altitude, flight path and temperature," he added.
U.S. Air Force Colonel . Cedric Leighton, deputy director of the National Security Agency and a CNN military analyst, described the explosion as "like a rock gone wrong," adding that the flare was like "on a hot day burning shale oil." Top. "
Chad Ohlandt, a senior engineer at the RAND Corporation in Washington, D.C., agreed that the moon's flash indicated that the solid rocket motor "wasn't working."
There were reports on social media that the missile attack was caused by Israel's Iron Dome defense system. But experts said there was no evidence it was intercepted by another rocket, and Israel said the system would not be used in Gaza.
At 7:00 pm, the Hamas armed group Qassam fired "a large number of rockets" towards the Israeli coastal city of Ashdod, north of Gaza. Minutes later, PIJ said in The Telegraph that its armed group, the Quds Force, had launched protests in Tel Aviv in response to "enemy killings of civilians."
Another video from the night of the explosion, apparently recorded on a balcony on a mobile phone and also produced by CNN, captured the sound of the explosion in the air.
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