Hundreds of people were killed Tuesday after a rocket hit the Al Ahli Baptist hospital in Gaza City, according to Hamas.
The Ministry of Health and Civil Defense of that territory governed by Hamas blamed the incident on a bombing by Israeli aircraft, but that country assures that it is investigating the event and that a rocket launched by Hamas towards its territory probably fell short and hit against the installation.
A doctor explained that at the time of the bombing, about 4,000 people were sheltering in the facility.
Before the massacre – which occurs a few hours before the arrival in Israel of US President Joe Biden, who traveled with the intention of containing Beniamin Netanyahu – the Palestinian government had raised the death toll in Gaza to 3,000.
Severalnations rejected this deadly attack, including Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey, Canada and the European Union.
Although at first everyone accused Israel of the attack, an initial investigation by theisraeli armed forces showed a video suggesting that the explosion at the hospital was caused by the failed launch of a Hamas rocket, according toMark Regev, senior advisor to the Israeli prime minister.
The official told theBBC that the Israeli authorities are studying exactly what happened, because "their military would not deliberately attack a hospital," and instead there is a history of failures of this type by Palestinian militants, he recalled.
"My information, which I just received from the highest authority... is that everything indicates that they were not Israeli orders, that it was rather a Hamas rocket that fell short," Regev stressed.
"From past conflicts with Gaza terrorists, we know that an average of 33% of the rockets fired at us fall short and fall in Gaza," he recalled.
In a statement Israel blamesthe Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization of the attackto the hospital in Gaza: "Based on the analysis of the operational systems of the Israel Defense Forces, the enemy fired a wave of rockets towards Israel that passed by the vicinity of the hospital, at the time of impact. According to information from intelligence, from various sources that we have,the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization "is responsible for the failed launch that hit the hospital."
During Biden's solidarity visit to his old ally, the US president hopes to announce that civilians will have what they need and that the ground invasion will not put their lives in more danger than they already have been.
Al Ahli is one of the 22 hospitals that remain open in the northern Gaza Strip to meet the humanitarian needs of thePalestinian population.
The hospital operates under the direction of the Episcopal diocese of Jerusalem and was already hit by several Israeli rockets on October 14, according to a statement from this organization of the Protestant Church.
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