The Journal. - What We Know About the Gaza Hospital Blast

Episode Date: October 19, 2023

On Tuesday evening, an explosion rocked a hospital in northern Gaza where hundreds were sheltering from Israeli airstrikes. The Gaza Ministry of Health blamed Israel for the blast but Israel, the U.S. government and independent security experts said preliminary evidence pointed to a local militant group. WSJ’s Yaroslav Trofimov explains what we know so far about the blast. Further Reading: - U.S., Experts Say Evidence Suggests Palestinian Militants’ Rocket Hit Gaza Hospital  - Live Coverage: Israel-Hamas War  Further Listening: - For Palestinians Trapped in Gaza, There’s No Way Out  - The War Between Israel and Hamas  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, at just around 7 p.m. local time, there was a blast at a hospital in northern Gaza. Here's our colleague Yaroslav Trofimov. What we know for sure is that there was an explosion, a deadly explosion in the Al-Ahly hospital in Gaza. The hospital was packed by perhaps more than a thousand local residents who thought they would find safety in that compound. We begin our report in Gaza, where a blast has destroyed a hospital, potentially killing

hundreds. The picture is now on your screen of that blast, a crowded hospital. Just hit and overwhelmed. Women and children in the aftermath waiting for treatment, terrified. Both sides in the conflict are blaming each other. There was a lot of confusion from the very beginning, both about the scope of the tragedy that happened there and about the responsibility for it. Almost immediately, the Gaza Ministry of Health blamed an Israeli airstrike. Israel

denied it caused the blast, saying it was a rocket from a militant group based in Gaza. Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, Israel has launched a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. As of today, the Israeli government says more than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed. And in Gaza, officials say nearly 4,000 people have been killed. The carnage at the hospital this week has only escalated tensions between Israel and much of the Middle East. It's certainly an emotional turning point in the war, even though the U.S. government, U.S. intelligence, definitely Israel, but also a lot of the independent analysts that we have spoken with concur with the Israeli version and that Israel wasn't responsible for it,

that's not something that people in the region believe. And I think opinions were set in stone immediately. And if you ask people in Arab capital, pretty much anywhere in the region, they will tell you it was definitely Israel and nothing will change their mind. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Thursday, October 19th. Coming up on the show, what we know about the deadly explosion at a hospital in Gaza. Introducing TD Insurance for Business, with customized coverage options for your business.

Because at TD Insurance, we understand that your business is unique, so your business insurance should be too. Contact a licensed TD Insurance advisor to learn more. Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. It's run by the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem, the only Christian hospital in Gaza. In the days before the explosion, Israel ordered civilians in the northern region of Gaza to evacuate. Hospital staff ignored those orders so that they could continue caring for patients and local residents seeking safety. According to hospital officials, close to 1,000 people were on the hospital grounds at the time of the blast. Because of the bombardments in the area,

it had become a refuge for many civilians who were just spending the night on the lawn in the parking lot and in the buildings of the hospital thinking it would be a safe place. The actual explosion happened almost at 7 p.m. sharp local time. It was already after dark. As you know, there is no electricity in Gaza because Israel had cut off electric supplies, so the rest of the city was plunged in darkness.

And the footage from afar that captured the explosion showed a massive fireball, and it happened one or two seconds after a Palestinian rocket launch, a barrage of rockets that was launched from not very far from there in the direction of Israel. So these are the facts. Then, you know, there was chaos, you know, burning, lots of people dead. And initial footage showed from the scene, it did show, you know, scores of what appeared to be bodies

in that parking lot and lawn where people were spending the evening. In the immediate aftermath of the blast, what were the initial reports coming out say? The Palestinian health ministry and the doctors at the hospital immediately accused Israel saying it was an Israeli airstrike, you know, within minutes. That said 500, maybe more than 500 dead. That was a report from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, like the rest of the government in the Gaza Strip. And, you know, the local doctors in the scene came with the same number pretty quickly, and everybody went with it.

That number by itself, because it was so high, led people to think that Israel was responsible, because only Israel has the sort of weapons that can kill so many people in one strike. Sort of the big bombs that Israel could use. You know, the Palestinian missiles are not known to be that powerful. After the explosion, the Hamas-run health ministry and doctors at the hospital held a press conference.

Here's Dr. Ghassan Abousita. When I drove into the hospital, I noted how full the hospital courtyard was with families who had sought refuge inside the hospital, thinking that it would be a safe haven. It's these very same families who are now either dead or critically wounded. What is the significance of a hospital being either a target or a casualty of this blast? Well, you know, hospitals are supposed to be protected. Hospitals are not supposed to be attacked in the belligerents.

You know, they're supposed to be safe places in any war. You know, they're protected under international humanitarian law. So there was an extra sensitivity to that, and that's the reason why all the civilians went there thinking they would be safe. They obviously weren't. The next day, in response to the blast, waves of protests broke out across the Middle East.

Many protested against Israel and its allies, including the United States. All day, the explosion at the Gaza hospital sparked rage and protests in the Arab and Muslim world. Protests have erupted in Lebanon. The rest of the world and the region especially took the claims of the Hamas-run Ministry of Health at face value. And so immediately the leaders all around the region condemned Israel for what they described as genocide. There was protest in Baghdad.

There was another in Jordan where crowds tried to surge towards the Israeli embassy there. In Beirut, there was a march towards the American embassy. So, you know, there was a lot of anger and outrage. a march towards the American embassy. So, you know, there was a lot of anger and outrage. The blast occurred the day before President Biden arrived in the region for a planned visit. The three Arab leaders who were supposed to meet President Biden

just a little bit more than a day later in a month, so the king of Jordan, the president of Egypt, and the head of the Palestinian Authority, President Abbas, all that evening canceled their planned summit, sort of in protest at American support for Israel. And how did Israel respond to the blast? Initially, they were checking it, then they denied it, and then they said that it was one of the militant groups allied with Hamas that had fired a rocket towards Israel that misfired and landed on that compound.

We'll be right back. Your team requested a ride, but this time, not from you. It's through their Uber Teen account. It's an Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your teen to your Uber account today. Embrace the summer vibes with Summersbee Hard Cider. Bursting with lovely aromas of apple, this light-bodied, fruity cider offers a crisp, clean finish.

Perfect for sunny days and warm nights. Enjoy it well-chilled or over ice. That's refreshing. That's Summersbee. Must be legal drinking age. Please drink responsibly. Carlsberg Canada Inc. Waterloo, Ontario. Israel said that it was not responsible for the hospital blast in Gaza. Instead, it said the explosion was caused by a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Who is Islamic Jihad? What are they doing in Gaza?

Well, Palestinian Islamic Jihad is sort of a junior partner of Hamas. It's also a Palestinian Islamist organization that has been engaged in armed struggle, as they would describe it, or terrorism, as the U.S. or Israel would label them. In a statement, Islamic Jihad denied Israel's allegations that the militant group is behind the hospital blast. Could you describe what evidence Israel presented? They released drone footage of the hospital, which showed that actually the hospital itself is still standing, and some even had windows that haven't been broken,

which really, you know, this coupled with, you know, lots of other footage shot by journalists and other eyewitnesses on the scene, really undermined the probability of there being such a huge death toll, because it's very hard for 500 people to even pack that parking lot and sort of grass area, let alone to be killed there. that parking lot and sort of grass area, let alone to be killed there. The U.S. government and independent security experts also said that early evidence pointed to the Islamic Jihad as responsible for the explosion. It's evidence that was gathered independently of Israel by journalists and others who were there, you know, who filmed the scene up close. And that's the sort of evidence that was looked at by independent experts, who looked at the shrapnel spray pattern,

who looked at the crater left by the projectile hit, looked at what happened to the cars in this parking lot. And clearly there wasn't a huge shockwave that is consistent with an airstrike because only a couple of these cars were upturned. The rest of them still stood there, didn't move. And also these experts looked at the injuries that the Palestinians killed their heads, which were consistent with sort of big fireball explosion

that would happen if a rocket full of fuel had hit an area. And then we, as the Wall Street Journal, spoke to a large number of open source intelligence analysts who have looked at the footage, who have looked at both the footage of the scene forensically, but also at the footage of the strike, and have come to the conclusion that it was definitely not a bomb dropped by the Israelis. And it wasn't really consistent with any of the munitions that Israel uses in its air campaign, but it was consistent with a rocket full of fuel. And just to clarify, what are U.S. officials saying happened? Well, U.S. officials are saying that there is a high degree of confidence that this was an attack by a rocket fired by Palestinians, and it was not an Israeli strike. fired by Palestinians, and it was not an Israeli strike.

The U.S. says it has gathered evidence based on electronic surveillance and intercepted communications. While in Israel, President Biden said Israel's version of events appeared more accurate, based on information he says is from the U.S. Defense Department. Here's Biden at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at 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. Is it important what Biden or the U.S. says in an incident like this?

I think it's important to establish the U.S. says in an incident like this? I think it's important to establish the facts. I mean, it may not persuade a lot of people in the Middle East, but it is important to know what actually happened. And obviously for the U.S. government, it's very important to know what happened, because if the U.S. government had thought Israel was responsible, it would have probably adopted a different kind of policy. And especially as Israel is still planning this large ground operation that would be very, very bloody if it takes place.

At the end of the day, right, people, civilians were killed in this blast. Why are the details around the explosion taking up so much space? Like, why are these specifics so important? Well, you know, it's a stage in the war where Hamas wants the West to drop support for Israel and pressure to stop. And Israel wants to go in and eliminate Hamas that had killed, you know, 1,300 or 1,400 of Israeli citizens just less than two weeks earlier. And so every side wants to have the moral high ground and wants to, you know, show that its cause is worthy of support. You know, had Israel killed, you know,

500 or 600 Palestinian civilians at a hospital, you know, it would be very hard for it to pursue the campaign and still count on support from the hospital. You know, it would be very hard for it to pursue the campaign and still count on support from the West. And what's next for the people of Gaza and of Israel? Well, for the people of Gaza, unfortunately, you know, it's unlikely that there will be anything other than more suffering and bloodshed in the coming weeks. You know, ground wars, especially in urban environments,

are bloody and destructive affairs. And the borders of Gaza are still closed, the humanitarian aid is still not flowing in, and the people of Gaza cannot leave, and neither can foreigners who are trapped there. But the people of Israel, obviously, they are bracing, in addition to this, for a possible war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And Hezbollah is a much more capable enemy than Hamas. Hezbollah has a lot of Hezbollah is a much more capable enemy than Hamas. Hezbollah has a lot of precision-guided, long-range missiles that could hit anywhere in Israel, pretty much, and really disrupt critical infrastructure and life in that country. So, you know, things, unfortunately, can get much, much worse in the coming weeks.

Today, President Biden said that the U.S. secured a deal with Egypt and Israel to send 20 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Aid workers estimate that the trucks will meet about one-eighth of the need. Biden said that aid could begin flowing as soon as Friday. flowing as soon as Friday. That's all for today, Thursday, October 19th. Additional reporting in this episode by Margarita Stancati, Nancy A. Youssef, and Stephen Kalin. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify

and The Wall Street Journal. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.