Israel military says no evidence of direct hit on Gaza hospital

Israel's military on Wednesday it had seen no evidence of a direct hit on a hospital in the Gaza Strip the day before, where hundreds of Palestinians were killed in an explosion.

A military spokesperson told journalists that there was no structural damage to buildings around the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital and no craters consistent with an air strike.

The spokesperson accused Hamas of inflating the number of casualties from the explosion and said it could not know as quickly as it claimed what caused the blast.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, blamed the deadly blast on Israel. Israel says it was a result of a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in the enclave. The spokesperson added that some 450 rockets fired from Gaza have fallen short and landed inside the strip in the last 11 days.

Reuters

Russia says strike on Gaza hospital is a shocking crime

Russia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that a strike on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians was a shockingly dehumanising crime and said that Israel should provide satellite imagery if it was not involved.

Palestinian officials said an Israeli air strike hit the hospital while Israel blamed the blast at Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital on a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which denied responsibility.

“We qualify such a felonious deed as a crime — as an act of dehumanisation,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Radio Sputnik.

Zakharova said that there was a clear attempt by some to absolve themselves of responsibility and that it was not enough to simply make comments in the media on such an incident so Israel and the United States should provide satellite imagery.

“Please be so kind as to provide satellite images, and it would be nice if American partners did it,” Zakharova said.

Reuters