An explosion hit an area near Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday evening. According to Hamas, 471 people were killed. American intelligence estimates that between 100 and 300 died, writes Reuters. The Israeli military says the explosion came from a failed rocket launch by the Islamic Holy War group, also called Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Gaza’s health authorities, which are ruled by Hamas, say the explosion was caused by an Israeli airstrike. No independent sources have been able to establish who was behind the attack or the background for it. But the BBC, among others, has analyzed the videos and images from the explosion and the destruction, and stated that there are several factors that speak against an Israeli air strike. The Israelis’ explanation is also supported by the United States. – It looks like it is due to a misfired rocket that was fired from a terrorist group in Gaza, said US President Joe Biden from Tel Aviv in a press conference on Wednesday. US officials told CNN that initial evidence suggests the blast came from a rocket launched by Islamic State. Joe Biden visited Israel for the first time after becoming president on October 18, to show US support for Israel in the war. Photo: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / Reuters Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap) will wait to conclude. The UN is working to clarify what has happened. – We are working hard to get it clarified. The UN will go out when they feel they can conclude. It is such a sensitive and important question that it is wise to wait for a final clarification, says the foreign minister to news. – The area should be investigated Sigbjørn Halsne, section chief at the War College, says it is difficult to draw any conclusions from the available images and videos from the crime scene. In order to find out what may have actually happened, he suggests sending in a crime scene investigation team where the explosion went off. NOT CLEARED: What hit this hospital area in Gaza on October 17? Photo: Abed Khaled / AP – Then they can, for example, look at the size and depth of the crater, to say something about the size of the weapon, and its likely origin, says Halsne. If they find remnants of explosives, he says it can also be used to find out what kind of weapon was used. – Finally, you can look at the damage to the people and surrounding buildings, to try to find out what kind of weapon has been used, says the section chief. Who is Islamic Holy War? Islamic Holy War is the first Islamist Palestinian armed resistance group to be formed. So says Dag Henrik Tuastad, senior lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at the University of Oslo. They were founded in 1981 in Gaza, with a background in the Egyptian organization The Muslim Brotherhood. – In the 70s, radicalism arose in the student community in Egypt, where a number of Palestinians studied. The Palestinian students then took this back to Gaza, where they formed the Islamic Holy War, Tuastad said. Dag Henrik Tuastad says that the Islamic Holy War could grow big, after they started receiving financial support from Iran. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news Tuastad says that the main difference between the Islamic Holy War and Hamas lies in their methods. – The Islamic holy war idea of the Islamization of society goes through armed struggle. Among those who founded Hamas, on the other hand, it was believed that society had to be Islamized first, and then the armed struggle could be started, he explains. This became clear when Islamic Holy War criticized Hamas for legitimizing and participating in the elections in Gaza in 2006. Support from Syria and Iran Hamas previously received support from the Syrian regime, and for many years had its political headquarters in the Syrian capital, Damascus. But after they pulled out of Damascus in 2011, much of the support they had received from the regime, including monetary support, went to the Islamic Holy War. According to Tuastad, this led to the Islamic Holy War in Gaza suddenly receiving a lot of money for, among other things, weapons – and strengthened its position. According to US security authorities, Islamic holy war is supported by the regime in Iran. They are also a known supporter of Hamas Officials from both the Islamic Holy War and Hamas also stated in 2021 that they receive, among other things, weapons from Iran, and that their soldiers are trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Without the regime’s help, they could not have fired rockets at Tel Aviv, they said further. The militant Palestinian group Islamic Holy War receives major financial and military support from the regime in Iran. Photo: Adel Hana / AP Following the Hamas-led attack on Israel earlier this month, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also praised the Islamic Holy War for taking part. – What happened in the occupied territories and in the fight against the Zionist regime was a huge, unique event. You really made the Islamic community happy with this victorious operation. This was said by Iran’s president in a telephone conversation with Ziad al-Nakhalah, secretary general of the Islamic Holy War, according to the president’s own website. – Hear what they want to hear Tuastad does not want to speculate on who could be behind the attack on the Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza. But he is convinced that it will not affect the Arab mind even if it turns out that it is a failed missile from the Islamic Holy War that led to the explosion. – An impression has already taken hold among the Palestinians that this was the product of an Israeli bomb. They are really only looking for images and things that confirm this understanding, believes the researcher and adds: – Even if it turns out that the Islamic Holy War is behind it, people have become virtually immune to other versions of what happened than that it was Israel’s fault.
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Accuses Islamic holy war of being behind hospital attack in Gaza – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
