President Biden visits Israel as Hezbollah declares 'day of anger' over hospital blast
President Biden is in Israel on a mission to keep the Israel-Hamas conflict from escalating into a wider war in the Middle East and urge humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire. The president's visit Wednesday comes after hundreds of people were killed in an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital the day before.
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The Israel Foreign Ministry released a photo taken by IDF radar footage showing the trajectory of the misfired rocket that killed hundreds at a Gaza hospital.
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari held a news conference Wednesday morning in efforts to prove a deadly explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad, and not Israel.
The IDF conducted an after-action review with all relevant branches following the deadly explosion that left at least 500 people dead Tuesday evening, Hagari said. The review revealed that Hamas fired a barrage of rockets toward Israel at 6:15 p.m. local time, which was followed by the launch of around ten rockets by Islamic Jihad approximately 45 minutes later.
It was determined that one of the rockets launched by Islamic Jihad misfired and continued its flight toward the ground until it hit within the hospital compound, Hagari said, adding that intelligence captured two Hamas terrorists discussing the failed launch.
That conversation between the two was released publicly by the IDF Wednesday morning and translated into English. The two men can be heard acknowledging the misfire when one says "they are saying it belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad," and that the shrapnel looks like it is local, not from the Israelis.
Then they start discussing how the rockets were shot from a cemetery behind the hospital, which is what Hagori said was determined in the review based on the trajectory analysis.
Hagori also said the IDF has counted approximately 450 rockets that have misfired and failed inside Gaza since Oct. 7, adding that "Palestinians pay the price."
Fox News' Trey Yingst reported that the Israelis have been consistent in denying responsibility for the attack.
"The facts on the ground, what we can report, the Israelis have provided both drone evidence, they've provided images, videos, and they have provided intercepted phone calls to indicate this was an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired," Yingst said.
Yingst noted that Hamas stands by its initial claim that the Israelis are responsible for the hundreds killed at the hospital.
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