Key takeaways:
- At least 200 people were killed in an explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday.
- The United States has assessed that the blast was most likely caused by a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
- This tragedy has been met with shock and sorrow from around the world, and the United Nations has called for an independent investigation into the incident.
At least two hundred people were killed in a devastating explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, according to Palestinian authorities and medical providers. The exact number of casualties is still unclear.
The United States has assessed that the blast was most likely caused by a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to two U.S. officials and a congressional staffer. NBC News consulted four military and munitions experts who were shown parts of more than a dozen videos and pictures from the incident at al-Ahli Baptist Hospital and its aftermath that have been geolocated and analyzed by NBC News, with some saying the marks left by the projectile aren’t consistent with the weaponry Israel has.
The incident occurred as civilians had sought safety at the hospital amid Israeli airstrikes elsewhere in northern Gaza. Within minutes of the blast, false and misleading claims about the incident spread across the web. No one took credit for the strike: Gazan officials blamed an Israeli airstrike, and Israel faulted a misfired rocket from the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
This tragedy has been met with shock and sorrow from around the world. The United Nations has called for an independent investigation into the incident, and the United States has urged both sides to de-escalate the conflict. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., and the international community is now looking to the group to take responsibility for the deadly blast.
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