As the hours go by after a hospital was struck in Gaza, questions are being raised as to both the severity of the attack and the number of casualties amid grave concern over the incident.
Within hours of the blast, Palestinian sources were citing hundreds of deaths, numbers as high as 1,000 even being thrown around, for a small 19th century hospital which had a capacity of just 80 beds, according to its website.
Palestinian officials quickly blamed an Israeli air strike for the blast, which it said had killed as many as 500 people. Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.
While visiting the region in a bid to quell tensions, US President Joe Biden also spoke quickly to defend Israel, which has been sharing a barrage of intelligence to prove it was not culpable. One such piece of evidence was the intercepted recording of two Hamas operatives on the issue of Islamic Jihad’s failed launch.
Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: "I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion of the hospital in Gaza yesterday, and based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you."
But the suggestion that somehow a large hospital building was so severely damaged by a large bomb that caused hundreds of casualties does not correspond to available evidence.
While there are Gazans taking refuge in the likes of the hospital, the parading of dead bodies and casualties has been unusually reserved from the side of Hamas which is usually ready with the body bags and displays of dead bodies. Most images show a crater beside the hospital. Other casualty images have not been confirmed to have come from the hospital.
Footage and images obtained by Reuters from the parking outside the hospital building showed about two dozen destroyed vehicles in its grounds.
Dr Fadel Naim, head of orthopedic surgery, said about 1,000 people were in Al Ahli Arab Hospital on Tuesday morning and more rushed there later in the day after he said the Israeli army had warned residents in the Zeitoun neighbourhood to evacuate their homes.
Dr Ibrahim Al-Naqa claimed more than 3,000 people had sought refuge at the hospital at the time of the strike.
Not even Al Jazeera, the Qatar-funded propaganda machine has been able to show more detailed insight into the alleged atrocity.
If the level of devastation was as serious as has been reported, finding 1,000 bodies underneath rubble would take a great deal of time, not least in Gaza where rescue operations are already underway elsewhere. The rapid flow of numbers again seems worthy of answers, in addition to the true extent of the destruction.
Analysts have been noting the lack of damage to the hospital and its complex, including the chapel and hospital structure which is largely “intact” other than some window damage.
“Update on the chapel at the Ahli Hospital in Gaza, the building lost several of its stained glass windows in the explosion, but otherwise appears to be intact,” wrote @Osinttechnical.
“Full footage from TASS [Russian news agency], no impact craters, interior spaces appear to be intact. Injuries from flying glass appear to have occurred,” he wrote.
Independent intelligence analyst Ronen Solomon from Intellitimes, confirmed that the damage caused by the incident was not consistent with an air strike.
“This picture leaves no doubt, it is a rocket hit and not a bomb. The damage is environmental damage and it does not match the number of deaths reported in Gaza,” he said on X, referring to a Reuters image.
Analyst Oliver Alexander also shared similar insights, referring to the small crater as inconsistent with an airstrike.
“This image [of] what looks to be the only crater that has been visible in any of the currently released footage of the hospital blast,” he wrote on X, suggesting the hospital itself had not been hit directly.
“The failed rocket launch is looking more and more like the culprit in the attack on the hospital,” he wrote.
