- By Mayukh Debnath
- Sun, 22 Oct 2023 11:35 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Israel-Palestine War: Citing analysis conducted by its intelligence arm, Canada's National Department of Defence said Israeli forces were not responsible for the bombing of Gaza's Al-Ahli Arab hospital, which took place earlier this week. The department, on the basis of an analysis of open source and classified reporting, further said that the explosion was likely the result of a failed rocket attack launched from Gaza.
"Analysis conducted independently by the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command indicates with a high degree of confidence that Israel did not strike the Al-Ahli hospital on 17 October 2023," it said in a statement.
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Canada's findings are similar to conclusions by France and the US. Canada said its assessment is informed by an analysis of the blast damage to the hospital complex, including adjacent buildings and the area surrounding the hospital, as well as the flight pattern of the incoming munition.
(Scenes from the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in the Gaza Strip after an explosion struck the medical facility on Tuesday. Pic Credits: Reuters)
Palestinian militant outfit Hamas and its allies, along with the the African Union, have pinned the blame for the bombing on Israel, which is currently conducting air strikes against assets of the Palestinian militant outfit in Gaza. Iran, Turkey, and Qatar have accused Israel of being responsible for the explosion that claimed the lives of nearly 500 Palestinians, including children.
Denying its role in the bombing, Israel has alleged that Al-Ahli was struck by a misfired munition belonging to Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian resistance movement separate from Hamas, which is in control of the Gaza Strip and is in the middle of intense fighting with the Israeli military.
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On Wednesday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) released an audio recording which it said captured a conversation between two Hamas operatives who, according to the translation provided by the Israeli military, discussed how a failed rocket attack by Islamic Jihad resulted in the explosion that struck the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in southern Gaza.
(With inputs from Reuters)
