The number of victims from the strike at Ahli Arab hospital on Tuesday in Gaza is “probably at the lower end of the range between 100 and 300 deaths”according to a US intelligence report, excerpts of which were accessed late yesterday, Thursday, by Agence France-Presse.
The report submitted to Congress claims that, as Joe Biden said on Wednesday, Israel “probably didn’t bomb the hospital in the Gaza Strip.”
“We are still processing the death toll and our estimate may evolve, but this toll in any case represents a staggering loss of life,” said the ODNI, the office that coordinates all US intelligence services.
The US agencies did not notice “only minor damage to structural elements of the hospital”. “There is no visible damage to the main building of the hospital and no crater”refers to the excerpts of this report.
According to intelligence sources, “Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip assessed that the explosion was likely caused by a failed rocket or missile launch by Islamic Jihad,” according to excerpts from the document read by AFP.
Hamas has accused Israel – which it denies – of shelling the Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza on Tuesday. This strike caused the death of at least 471 people among those who, having left their homes due to the conflict, had taken refuge in the hospital compound, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
A senior European intelligence official, interviewed by AFP, estimated the death toll from the strike at “several dozen”. And a spokesman for the Israeli military also disputed the number cited by Hamas: “Where are all the bodies?” he asked.
AFP photos and videos show dozens of bodies wrapped in flags, in special sacks or covered with blankets.
Israel announced it had “evidence” that Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian group, was responsible for the attack on the hospital.
The representative of the Israeli army, Jonathan Conricus, repeated that“It is not an Israeli bomb because there is no crater in the photos.”
According to Islamic Jihad, a Hamas-allied organization designated as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and Israel, a bomb dropped by an Israeli military aircraft caused the tragedy at the hospital.
Any escalation or even continuation of Israel’s military action in Gaza will be “catastrophic” for the local population, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Philippe Grandi said today, while the Dutch government advised Dutch citizens not to travel to Lebanon.
“I can tell you with certainty that any further escalation or even continuation of military activities will be simply devastating for the people of Gaza,” Grandi told a news conference in Tokyo.
In addition, the Dutch government today advised its citizens not to travel to Lebanon and also called on those still in the country to “leave Lebanon as soon as possible”.
“As a result of unforeseen developments between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, there are heightened tensions in Lebanon,” the Dutch government said in a statement.
Source: News Beast
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