Ignoring evidence, PA repeats libel that Israel bombed Gazan hospital

• Abbas’ advisor lied that Israel – and the US - bombed Gazan hospital

• Official PA news agency lied Israel “intentionally harmed civilians” and “targeted” the hospital, despite Israel’s warnings to residents to evacuate the combat zone

A week after evidence proved that Israel did not bomb a hospital in Gaza, PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Shtayyeh still repeats the libel.

A failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad terrorists fell short of Israel and hit the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 17, 2023, during Hamas’ terror war on Israel.

The PA and Hamas rushed to libel Israel as being responsible for the bombing and claimed approximately 500 people had been killed. Global media outlets including Reuters and the BBC hurried to publish the Palestinian libel without confirming it.
 

But Israel soon proved with video evidence, including from Al-Jazeera TV, that it was an errant Islamic Jihad rocket that fell on the hospital during a barrage of rocket fire. Israel further published a recording of a phone conversation between two Hamas terrorists intercepted by Israel on Oct. 17, 2023, in which the terrorists discussed how an Islamic Jihad rocket caused the damage to the hospital and that shrapnel at the site of the bombing was "shrapnel from locally produced rockets" and not Israeli. 

Having seen the Israeli evidence, the US confirmed the Israeli assessment that an Islamic Jihad rocket had caused the damage. A senior European intelligence source estimated that the true death count from the bombing was no more than 50 people.

But all this doesn’t matter to the Palestinian Authority. Almost a week after the bombing, when all the evidence had already been published and accepted by international heads of state, politicians, and media, PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh still had the nerve to blame Israel for the bombing:

“[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh wondered: … Where is there a culture that bombs a hospital and demands to evacuate other hospitals?”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 23, 2023]

Shtayyeh’s comment echoes the PA narrative from the day after the hospital bombing. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, ignored the evidence by labelling Israel and the US liars, claiming that the US was “behind” the bombing and that Israel carried it out: 

Al-Hadath TV interviewer: “Let’s start with the Israeli version that it is attempting to disseminate, that the bombing [of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City] came from the Palestinian factions, despite the denial of the factions… Today there is even an American confirmation of the Israeli version’s veracity. What is your response?”

 

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “This is not new regarding Israel and even not regarding the Americans. They are used to lies, falsehoods, and falsifications… Everyone saw the Israeli missile or the Israeli bombing hitting the hospital in a live broadcast… We have no doubt that Israel is responsible, and that the one who is behind it – the US – is a partner in this responsibility… The US is the one that is sponsoring all the Israeli crimes, and that it is the one that is defending all the Israeli crimes – not only today, during this aggression (refers to Hamas’ terror war on Israel -Ed.), but rather throughout all of history.”

[Al-Hadath TV (Saudi Arabia), Oct. 18, 2023]

Likewise, the official PA news agency WAFA quickly alleged that Israel “intentionally harmed civilians” and “targeted” the hospital:

“The Israeli occupation intentionally harmed civilians [in the Gaza Strip] when they left their homes… At the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, hundreds of families uprooted from Gaza City gathered thinking it was a ‘safe’ place, but the occupation’s jets targeted the hospitals, and they committed a massacre that caused the deaths of approximately 500 civilians as Martyrs and the wounding of hundreds, according to medical sources (sic.).”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 18, 2023]

The agency further distorted Israel’s warning calls to Gazan refugees to evacuate the combat zone as “threats”:

“Dozens of Gazan families left their homes in the neighborhoods surrounding the historical hospital and fled to it due to threats they received on their cell phones from the occupation army, which asked them to leave their homes and evacuate to ‘safe zones.’ A short while after they found shelter at the hospital, Israeli missiles suddenly hit the families and turned them into scattered body parts.”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 18, 2023]

Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that Hamas and even the PA Prime Minister have urged Gaza residents not to heed the Israeli warnings but to stay in their homes, thereby acting as human shields for the terrorists.
 

The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:

“[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that our efforts for freedom, independence, and establishing our state will not stop, and our resolve will not be undermined by the settlers’ crimes (refers to Hamas’ terror war on Israel; see note below -Ed.).

In his speech during the [PA] governmental meeting in Ramallah today, Monday [Oct. 23, 2023], the prime minister added that… the Palestinian people has culture and is a well-rooted people that has a history, a present, and a future (sic., the Palestinians have no history prior to the modern period), and it has owned the land and been in it for thousands of years, and Israel is a colonialist entity that occupied our land and expelled our people.

The prime minister wondered: … Where is there a culture that bombs a hospital and demands to evacuate other hospitals (refers to libel on Israel being behind Baptist Hospital bombing in Gaza City; see note below -Ed.)?”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 23, 2023]

Headline: “‘The safe zones’ – a trap planted by the occupation for the Gaza Strip residents”

“The Israeli occupation intentionally harmed civilians [in the Gaza Strip] when they left their homes after they were bombed (sic., refers to Hamas’ terror war on Israel; see note below). It also bombed UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) schools, hospitals, areas around them, and mosques where the residents sought shelter thinking they were safe.

At the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital (Al-Mamadani) [parentheses in source], hundreds of families uprooted from Gaza City gathered thinking it was a ‘safe’ place, but the occupation’s jets targeted the hospitals, and they committed a massacre that caused the deaths of approximately 500 civilians as Martyrs and the wounding of hundreds, according to medical sources (sic., an Islamic Jihad failed rocket launch struck the hospital; see note below).

Dozens of Gazan families left their homes in the neighborhoods surrounding the historical hospital and fled to it due to threats they received on their cell phones from the occupation army, which asked them to leave their homes and evacuate to ‘safe zones.’ A short while after they found shelter at the hospital, Israeli missiles suddenly hit the families and turned them into scattered body parts.”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 18, 2023]

Libel on Baptist Hospital Bombing in Gaza City, October 2023
 

Hamas war on Israel October 2023

Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Supreme Shari’ah Judge and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice.