Israelās government stated Tuesday an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket and not the Israeli Defense Force was responsible for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza that reportedly killed hundreds.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said that at least 500 people were killed in the blast at the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, The Associated PressĀ reported.
Palestinian officials blamed Israel for the strike.
Palestinian Authority Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said, āThe massacre at al-Ahli Arab Hospital is unprecedented in our history,āaccording to The Wall Street Journal.
āWhile weāve witnessed tragedies in past wars and days, but what took place tonight is tantamount to a genocide.ā
However an IDF representative said, āFrom the analysis of the operational systems of the IDF, an enemy rocket barrage was carried out towards Israel, which passed through the vicinity of the hospital when it was hit.ā
āAccording to intelligence information, from several sources we have, the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization is responsible for the failed shooting that hit the hospital,ā the IDF added.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on social media the Islamic Jihad rocket misfired resulting in it hitting the Gaza hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X, āThe entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF.ā
āThose who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children,ā he added.
A senior U.S. official told ABC News, at this point we ājust donāt know where the rocket came from.ā
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.