What is Israel’s narrative on the Gaza hospital explosion?
A woman clutching a pillow stands in the grounds of the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on 18 October 2023, surrounded by debris and personal effects from the previous night’s massacre
Al Jazeera reports on 18 October 2023:
At least 500 people were killed in an explosion at al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City at around 7.30pm on Tuesday, the deadliest strike since war broke out between Hamas and Israel on October 7.
In the fog of war, reactions have been confused, with denials of responsibility from both Israeli and Palestinian camps against a backdrop of competing online narratives and widespread disinformation.
But many are disinclined to believe Israel’s claim that the explosion was caused by a rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group. This scepticism has been fuelled by contradictions between Israel’s immediate and later responses.
So how has the narrative shifted since the explosion?
How did Israel react?
Initial posts on X sent by Hananya Naftali, a digital aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, aroused suspicion. “Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza,” he wrote, but the post was almost immediately deleted.
By 10.58pm, Naftali apologised on X for sharing “a Reuters report” that “falsely stated Israel struck the hospital”. He said he had since deleted the tweet. “As the [Israeli army] does not bomb hospitals, I assumed Israel was targeting one of the Hamas bases in Gaza,” he added.