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Key Video in Gaza Hospital Bombing Doesn’t Show What Caused Blast: NYT

Israeli and U.S. officials have cited the footage in claims that Israel was not to blame for the explosion.

A video used to bolster claims that a failed Palestinian rocket launch was responsible for a deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza likely does not show what caused the explosion, according to an analysis of the footage by The New York Times. The clip taken from an Al Jazeera livestream on Oct. 17 shows a projectile flying through dark skies over Gaza and exploding in the air before a second explosion erupts on the ground. Both American and Israeli officials have cited the video in claims that militants in Gaza were responsible for the disaster at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital, which local health officials blamed on Israel and said killed 471 people. According to the Times, the rocket actually detonated in the sky around two miles away from the hospital, and was “most likely” not the cause of the explosion at the medical facility. The report did not provide an answer as to what really caused the hospital blast, or who was ultimately responsible.