U.S. intelligence officials are less certain which Palestinian group may have fired the rocket, saying they have “low confidence” that it was launched by Palestine Islamic Jihad.

U.S. spy agencies believe that the blast at a Gaza hospital a week ago was caused by a Palestinian rocket that suffered engine failure and broke apart into two pieces, with the warhead striking the hospital’s parking lot, intelligence officials said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters by phone, the intelligence officials said they had “high confidence” in their assessment that it was not Israel that fired the rocket, but they were less certain which Palestinian militants fired the projectile on the evening of Oct. 17.

“We assess with high confidence that Israel was not responsible for the explosion at the hospital and that Palestinian militants were responsible,” an intelligence official said. “We assess with low confidence that Palestine Islamic Jihad was responsible for launching the rocket that landed on the hospital.”

  • Guy DudemanEnglish
    20•1 year ago

    Well, it’s not like Israel’s ally would say anything different.

    • BraveSirZaphod
      1•1 year ago

      The US Department of State deemed that Israel was responsible for the death of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

      In addition to the forensic and ballistic analysis, the USSC was granted full access to both Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Authority (PA) investigations over the last several weeks. By summarizing both investigations, the USSC concluded that gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh.

      So, yes, actually. Israel’s ally has contradicted Israeli positions before.

    • xedrak
      -7•1 year ago

      … there is a ton of evidence pointing to this being the truth at this point. I understand being pro-palestine, but continuing to deny this is essentially just pro-Hamas rhetoric at this point.

      • @[email protected]English
        10•1 year ago

        The only new evidence presented here is supposedly a previously unreleased recording of “suspected Hamas associated militants” who themselves do not know what is going on.

        • ChapolinColoradoNZEnglish
          -2•1 year ago

          Do you need more evidence than a live Al jazeera video stream showing the rockets being launched from within Gaza? Or the multiple other video angles of the same event captured by CCTV camera systems around the area? What evidence would convince you that the rocket came from Hamas?