Israel revealed Tuesday that there were several terrorists among the dead in Monday’s strike on a hospital in Gaza — though Israeli officials were not attempting to excuse the strike, which they said was done improperly.
20 people were killed and some 50 injured when Israel struck Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister expressed regret at the strike within hours, as international criticism mounted.
Specifically, Israeli military investigators are said to have revealed that tank shells were used rather than more precise munitions, and that there had been confusion about the authority to fire in the first place.
Hospitals are protected under international law, but lose that protection if they are used by terrorists.
The Jerusalem Post reported on the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) findings thus far in the investigation:
The IDF on Tuesday revealed that six of the around 20 Palestinians killed in the military’s tank shelling of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Monday morning were Hamas terrorists.
However, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir did not make this declaration to clear the military of mistakes in the operation.
Rather, this was only the second release of additional details, with more probing necessary into why tank shells were mistakenly approved for the operation and who gave the order.
Some of the journalists killed in the strike were also said to have been terrorists, or terrorist sympathizers. It is not unusual for journalists or stringers in Hamas-controlled Gaza to do double duty as terrorists as well.
The Post also reported that the ratio of civilian casualties to terrorists, which has been low throughout the war, and had even been dropping for some time, had begun to climb as the IDF fought Hamas in dense cities.
The IDF is preparing to attack the last Hamas strongholds in Gaza City, in northern Gaza, where the remaining 50 Israeli hostages are said to be held.
Update: The IDF presented the conclusions of its initial inquiry on Tuesday evening:
From an initial inquiry, it appears that Golani Brigade troops, operating in the area of Khan Yunis to dismantle terrorist infrastructure, identified a camera that was positioned by Hamas in the area of the Nasser Hospital that was being used to observe the activity of IDF troops, in order to direct terrorist activities against them. This conclusion was further supported, among other reasons, by the documented military use of hospitals by the terrorist organizations throughout the war, and by intelligence confirming Hamas’ use of the Nasser Hospital to carry out terrorist activities since the start of the war.
In light of this, the troops operated to remove the threat by striking and dismantling the camera and the inquiry showed that the troops operated to remove the threat.
The IDF added that several aspects of the strike were still being studied, including the authorization process.
Several commentators online also speculated that Hamas had positions snipers near the hospital, and that Hamas-linked journalists with cameras had been waiting on the exterior stairwell to record IDF troops being killed:
Such kill videos are popular staples on pro-Hamas outlets and social media channels — often accompanied by an inverted red triangle, a feature of video games that signifies the targeting of Israelis, and which has been used in pro-Palestinian graffiti and anti-Israel protests in the western world as well.
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