A dozen rockets launched from Gaza, a missile fired from Israel, and two fighter planes. This October 17, just before 7 p.m., numerous light sources illuminate the sky over Gaza. A few moments later, an explosion hit the Al-Ahli hospital site, causing a number of victims that is still uncertain to this day.
Two weeks after the events, our new analysis of the images shows that the trajectory and speed of a salvo of Palestinian rockets are technically compatible with the explosion at the hospital. It sheds light on four points on a night of clashes, between exchanges of fire and probable overflights by Israeli fighter planes, without establishing with certainty the cause of the explosion.
A Palestinian policeman and untraceable debris
At 6:59 p.m., the Al-Ahli hospital parking lot was devastated by an explosion. Soon, images showed a crater just under a meter in diameter.
Spotted by the BBCa photo taken forty minutes after the explosion shows a Palestinian police officer busy near the crater. He belongs to the EOD unit [explosive ordinance department]specialized in explosive devices and their neutralization. This unit is responsible in particular for collecting projectile debris and investigating explosions..
Two weeks later, however, no photos of the debris have been published by Hamas. According to Marc Garlascoformer military expert for the UN, “iThere is always a bomb fragment after the fact. After twenty years of investigating war crimes, this is the first time that I have not seen any remnants of weapons.”. Hamas representatives first affirmed in New York Times that ” [le missile] is vaporized. Nothing remains of it » before’announce to Washington Post be in possession of debris which “will soon be shown to the world”.
An Israeli interceptor missile, probably not linked to the explosion
For its part, Israel very quickly accused a dysfunctional rocket from Islamic Jihad, the other armed group in Gaza, and presented proof: images filmed by the media Al-Jazeera. We see a projectile rise then explode in the air. In the same images, a few seconds later, the explosion takes place at the hospital. According to Israel, it was a Palestinian rocket, part of which landed and caused the explosion in the hospital. What is it really ?
Using the three camera angles that show the takeoff of this projectile, The world was able to triangulate his position. It was actually fired from Israel, in an area where an Iron Dome battery is located. This system detects Palestinian rockets in flight and attempts to shoot them down using guided missiles. According to the same images, the projectile explodes around twenty seconds after takeoff, above Israeli territory.
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