After the clinic explosion in Gaza
Secret services estimate “10 to 50” dead
October 19, 2023, 4:40 a.m
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After the explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip, Hamas blamed Israel for allegedly hundreds of deaths. But there are considerable doubts not only about the responsibility of the Israeli army. Intelligence sources say that far fewer people were probably killed.
After the deadly shelling of a hospital compound in Gaza, there is still uncertainty over the number of victims as the blame game between Israel and the Palestinians continues. According to information from European secret services, not hundreds, but “more like a few dozen” people were killed. Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, reported more than 470 deaths and blamed Israel for the rocket strike. The Israeli army blamed Islamic Jihad and said it provided “evidence” of this.
“There are not 200 or even 500 dead, but more like a few dozen, probably between 10 and 50,” said an anonymous European intelligence source. She further stated that Israel was “probably not” responsible for the shelling, as the “serious leads” available to the secret services indicated. The source pointed out that the building was not destroyed. The hospital was probably evacuated beforehand – as the Israeli army had ordered for a number of clinics in the northern Gaza Strip.
After the incident on the grounds of the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, the government in the Gaza Strip, led by the radical Islamic group Hamas, said more than 470 people were killed and 300 others were injured. Israel shelled the hospital. On Wednesday, helpers searched the rubble of the clinic for the dead and missing. Survivors reported an explosion and fire on the site, which, in addition to doctors and patients, was also home to numerous people seeking protection who had fled their homes.
The Israel Defense Forces According to their own statements, they presented “evidence” of this, “that the explosion was caused by a misguided Islamic Jihad rocket.” Islamic Jihad is a Palestinian militia allied with Hamas that is designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel. The USA supported the Israeli representation. “Based on the information we have seen so far, it appears to be the result of a misdirected rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza,” US President Joe Biden said during his visit to Tel Aviv.