Palestinian officials have blamed Israel for the explosion, but Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari of the Israel Defence Forces said no Israeli aircraft were operating in the area of the hospital at the time it was hit.
Israel’s military has released what it claims is evidence – including drone footage and an intercepted conversation – that it says proves an Islamist militant group was responsible for a deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza and not an Israeli airstrike.
“We are running on it because someone is doing a fake on us, on Israel,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has said in a news conference.
It has not been possible to independently verify Rear Admiral Hagari’s claims.
Hundreds of people were killed in a devastating explosion at the al Ahli hospital in an attack that Palestinian officials have blamed on Israel.
It is the deadliest single event of the Israel-Hamas war so far.
The carnage triggered new protests against an unprecedented campaign of Israeli aerial bombardments on Gaza in response to a deadly attack on Israel by Hamas, which controls the Palestinian enclave, on 7 October.
Seeking to push back on the allegations, Rear Admiral Hagari said no Israeli aircraft had been operating in the area of the hospital at the time of the explosion and that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group was responsible.
The officer shared an image of what he claimed was radar footage captured by the military that showed the passage of a barrage of rockets fired from inside Gaza towards Israel, with the route passing over the site of the hospital.