The IDF was almost entirely silent in Gaza on Monday, one day after pulling out of Khan Yunis, and leaving only several hundred troops in northern Gaza out of an original force of tens of thousands.
One exception was IDF airstrikes on Hamas rocket firing positions hidden in a humanitarian area of Khan Yunis.
Hamas had fired a small number of rockets on the nearby Israeli South shortly after the IDF’s Sunday withdrawal from Khan Yunis.
But beyond that attack, which was a response to rocket fire, and not a proactive attack, the IDF did not share any details of operations in Gaza.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and IDF intelligence Unit 504 revealed on Monday that Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Tarik Salame Uda Abu confessed to Gazan terrorists taking over all of the hospitals in Gaza.
“Gaza terror groups use all of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip.... The organization lied and deceived regarding the story of an Israeli rocket hitting a hospital at the start of the war,” he told his interrogators.
The PIJ spokesman was arrested recently during the second takeover of Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, along with 500 other Hamas and PIJ terrorists, plus another 200 whom the IDF killed when they refused to surrender.
The terror spokesman said his role was to fool the global media and foreign countries to turn them against Israel.
Previously revealed recordings of Hamas members blaming PIJ
On October 18, IDF Spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari laid out the IDF’s full comprehensive intelligence case to prove that a failed rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza was the cause behind the damage and the death at al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
This was the incident that Uda Abu was referring to.
At the time, Hagari presented audio recordings in which Hamas members can be heard saying to each other that PIJ was responsible for the explosion.
He also presented a detailed video, topping off earlier videos put out by Israel’s public-relations apparatus, showing different stages of the rocket’s trajectory and the layout of the hospital being hit. A camera that Channel 12 had over Gaza City all night captured the rocket launch and hit as well.
The press conference was a nod to Israel’s acknowledgment of the importance of the international perception of this particular hit, as a ground invasion into Gaza is imminent.
“The IDF has concluded an after-action review and confirmed that PIJ was responsible for the strike,” Hagari said. “We did an immediate review for all relevant branches of the IDF.”
The IDF’s timeline for the hospital explosion goes as follows:
• At 6:15 p.m., a barrage of rockets was fired by Hamas at Israel.
• At around 7 p.m., a barrage of 10 rockets was fired by PIJ from a cemetery near the hospital.
• Also at around 7 p.m., there were reports of an explosion at the hospital.
“According to our intelligence, Hamas checked reports and itself understood that a PIJ rocket misfired,” Hagari said.
“Hamas then decided to launch a global media campaign to hide what happened,” inflating casualties along the way.
Questioned regarding these numbers, he said the intelligence on that issue needed to remain classified, but it has been shared with Israeli political officials.
Furthermore, he said, the PIJ rocket was fired from a nearby cemetery and hit a parking lot next to the hospital. The IDF released video footage of the parking lot to back this up.
Hagari went into extensive detail about the rocket itself: Most of its propellant was still within the rocket when it hit because it had traveled a shorter amount of time than intended. Had it traveled farther, as intended, it would have used up more of the propellant.
Its short trip left the excess propellant and contributed to additional fires after the rocket struck, Hagari said, adding that there is visual evidence showing infrared imagery of the nearby parking lot.
The IDF confirmed that there was no IDF fire by land, sea, or air that could have hit the hospital.
Translation of the recording
Below is a rough translation and transcription of what the Hamas officials said in the recording:
What?
They are saying this was Islamic Jihad.
This was from our side?
It seems that it was from our side, yes.
Who is saying this?
They are saying that the shrapnel of the missile are local pieces and not Israeli shrapnel.
What are they saying [there]?
My god, from us, it didn’t just explode, but in a hospital!
They may have fired from the cemetery behind.
What?
It seems that they fired this from the cemetery behind the hospital, and it failed and landed on the hospital.
There is a cemetery behind it?
Yes, it is right in its area!
Where is it exactly? When you enter the general courtyard area?
When you enter the courtyard area, so that you do not continue toward the city, but instead from the right side, that is where the hospital is.
Contradictory statements about casualty numbers
Already on the evening on which the explosion occurred, Hagari said: “An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the hospital at the time it was hit. Intelligence from a few sources that we have in our hands indicates that PIJ is responsible.”
Officials in Gaza issued contradictory statements about casualty numbers, ranging between dozens to hundreds, with video footage from the scene showing a number of cars near the hospital on fire.
Asked about the risks of exposing this intelligence to the world, Hagari indicated the decision was made in light of a broad range of factors.