The Associated Press joined the IDF, the US intelligence agencies, and the BBC yesterday when it ran a story headlined, “AP visual analysis: Rocket from Gaza appeared to go astray, likely caused deadly hospital explosion.”

https://tinyurl.com/yuj9y8ma

Remember, the AP initially reported that an Israeli missile destroyed Hamas General Hospital* and killed 500 civilians. So it’s not exactly in the tank for Israel or anything. It ran a long feature yesterday reporting that after analyzing over a dozen videos from the moments before, during and after the hospital explosion, as well as satellite imagery and photos. The AP concluded a rocket that broke up in the air and fell toward the hospital was fired from within Palestinian territory, and that the subsequent explosion was most likely caused by part of that rocket crashing into the parking lot.

(* the hospital’s real name is al-Ahli Arab Hospital.)

The videos the AP used were sourced from news broadcasts, security cameras, and social media posts, with the key video being an Al Jazeera live broadcast from Gaza at the time of the explosion. In the clip, as a correspondent speaks, the camera pans to zoom in on a volley of rockets being fired from the nearby ground. One of the rockets appears to veer from the others, away from the distant lights of Israel and back toward a darkened Gaza City, where electricity had largely been cut.

The camera followed the light from the rocket’s tail as it arched upwards into the sky and veered toward the left. Suddenly, the rocket seemed to fragment apart, and a piece appeared to break off and fall downwards. Another fragment shot sharply up and to the right, blazing before exploding in a fireworks-like flash and leaving a trail of sparks.

A small explosion was then seen on the ground in the distance, followed two seconds later by a much larger blast closer to the camera. The time stamp at the bottom of the live broadcast read 6:59 p.m. Gaza time — the exact time of the explosion at Hamas Hospital.

“From the video evidence that I have seen, it’s very clear that the rockets came from within Gaza,” said Andrea Richardson, a UCal Berkeley human rights lawyer and experienced war crimes investigator who has worked in the Middle East. She added that the timing of the rocket launch, the explosion, and the first reports that the hospital had been hit also confirm the sequence of events.

If you ‘re interested in this story, the AP, perhaps chagrined by its earlier fake news story, has assembled virtually all the available video evidence and added maps and commentary by various professionals to whom it showed the materials. It might be embarrassed but you wouldn’t know it; the news agency did not apologize or even “correct” its initial reporting. Reporting that, along with similar hot takes by other sources, inflamed worldwide protests, cause embassies to burn, and led to a number of civilian casualties.

It never made sense to me that Israel would deliberately target the hospital and then immediately deny it. Why? What would be the motive? Or, if the hospital was accidentally hit by a stray Israeli missile, then it would just be a tragic accident and not a war crime. Certainly no one is accusing Hamas of war crimes for accidentally blowing up a hospital.

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We have posted conflicting evidence and conflicting Conclusions. Personally I am with JC on this.

There is still a poll active down the sidebar if you would like to add your opinion

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Presently 45% say Hamas did it , 14% say Israel Did it , 30% say we don’t or can’t know , 6% say Trump did it