Experts: Evidence suggests it was a Palestinian missile that hit Gaza hospital

The US government and independent security experts concluded that Israel was not responsible for the Gaza hospital explosion. This is after analyzing the preliminary tests.

After Palestinian officials blamed Israel for the attack on the Al-Ahli health center, many images and other evidence of the attack came to light that called into question the information offered by the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Several experts stated that the evidence points to the rocket coming from Hamas or Islamic Jihad. One of the factors that led to this conclusion is that the size of the area affected by the explosion and the limited damage do not match what would be caused by the bombs or missiles that Israel usually uses.

Analysts highlight that images taken at the site show a shallow crater in the hospital's outdoor parking lot, and no significant damage is observed in the buildings of the hospital complex. "Still not conclusive, but IF this is the extent of the damage then I'd say an airstrike looks less likely than a rocket failure causing an explosion and fuel fire," said Justin Bronk, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, as shared by The Wall Street Journal.

The experts also highlighted inconsistencies between the number of deaths Palestinians say the explosion caused and what the evidence shows.

Blake Spendley, an independent intelligence analyst, said that images from the scene of the attack showed around 50 dead at the scene, a much smaller number than the 500 initially reported by Hamas.

The United States collected "high reliability" intelligence

The United States has collected intelligence supporting the idea that the explosion was caused by Islamic Jihad, reinforcing the claim that Israel was not involved in the incident.

"Our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza," said Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council .

The leaders of the congressional intelligence committees were also briefed on this intelligence and concluded that this was not an Israeli military attack.

Israel offers proof it was not responsible

This Wednesday, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israel's chief military spokesman, shared in a press conference what he said was an intercepted conversation between two Hamas operatives saying that the rocket was fired by militants from a cemetery near the health center.

The rear admiral also showed images of the burned parking lot and showed no deep crater at the explosion site, typically caused by an airstrike.

"We want the maximum transparency because we take any incident involving civilians very, very seriously," he said.