US intelligence has concluded that the Israeli Defense Forces did not attack the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City and that 500 civilians did not die there, according to multiple officials in Washington, Report informs, citing Newsweek.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has said that at least 500 people were killed in the blast at the hospital on Tuesday. Hamas has promised to release evidence that Israel bombed the hospital.
"Israel did not target the hospital, that we know," a senior Defense Intelligence Agency officer told Newsweek. "Imagery and signals [intercepts] additionally show that a rocket fired from inside Gaza landed near the hospital, not on it."
"We don't know how many people died, nor does Israel. Not yet," says a US Air Force officer working on the subject. "But the intelligence, ours and Israel's, suggests a few dozen at most. I'm not saying this isn't a tragedy," the officer says, "but this is just another case of massive exaggeration and blatant lying on the part of Hamas. Palestinians are the responsible party, not Israel."