Avichay Adraee, the IDF spokesman in Arabic, said on Friday that the rocket that hit Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip was caused by "a failed launch by the terrorist organizations that tried to fire at Israel," according to a post on his X account.
"According to IDF systems, rocket-propelled grenades hit the hospital," he wrote.
يُستدلّ من تحليل الأنظمة العملياتية التابعة لجيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي أن عناصر تخريبية أطلقت قذائف صاروخية صباح اليوم مستهدفةً قوات جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي العاملة بالقرب من مستشفى الشفاء في مدينة غزة. وبحسب الأنظمة التابعة لجيش الدفاع، فقد أصابت القذائف صاروخية المستشفى.وبالتالي،… pic.twitter.com/0SGysrJHP0
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 10, 2023
In another tweet, he wrote "according to the information available to the IDF, the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip are responsible for launching the failed missile that hit the hospital."
His tweet came shortly after a graphic video shared on social media and verified by Reuters on Friday showed a number of dead and wounded, including children in an area of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza, which a Gaza health ministry spokesman said had been hit by Israeli defensive airstrikes.
A Reuters correspondent said the video appeared to have been made in a covered, outdoor area near the hospital's outpatient department, where displaced people had been sleeping.
Reuters was able to confirm the location from one of the children seen in the video, a girl wearing dark trousers and a purple t-shirt, who is also seen in other footage at the entrance of the hospital.
The appearance of the hospital entrance also matched file imagery and the source has uploaded several videos from the hospital previously and was known to be there.
WHO: Gaza's Al Shifa hospital 'coming under bombardment'
A World Health Organization spokesperson said on Friday that the Al Shifa hospital had been "coming under bombardment," adding that 20 hospitals in Gaza were now out of action entirely.
Asked about the Gaza health ministry's allegation of an Israeli strike on the hospital courtyard, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said: "I haven't got the detail on Al Shifa but we do know they are coming under bombardment". Asked to elaborate, she said there was "intense violence" at the site, quoting colleagues on the ground. She did not specify who was perpetuating the violence.
Foreign reports claim that as the IDF evacuates two Gaza Strip hospitals, allowing hospital administrators to bring patients through the humanitarian corridor Friday. Hamas has, in contrast, prevented hospital workers from evacuating Shifa Hospital, according to Israeli media.
Last month, the IDF revealed detailed information showing that Hamas was running a command and control center under Al Shifa.