2023 Israel Conflict - Ground Forces Enter Gaza

Ok, the target being Israel is a simple explanation I hadn’t considered. They regularly launch rockets at Israel; it would be crazy if this one malfunctioned and friendly-fired a hospital right after the IDF said they were about to strike a hospital.

This is what I was wondering last night. There were no pictures of the hospital, and the “reports” of 100s dead always seemed to be twitter randos or third hand. Everyone seemed to question the cause of the explosion, but never the idea that the hospital was mostly blown up with 100s dead.

The fact that we haven’t seen any pictures of a blown up or partially blown up hospital seems telling. Hamas has never been shy about posting anything.

Yep. There’s a famous shot from years ago of a dad and his young son hiding behind cover. In the next shot the son is slumped over dead. It caused a gigantic uproar in pro-Palestinian circles.

It turns out the whole thing was staged. But by the time this was proven, no one wanted to bring it up again, especially the Israelis. The damage was done.

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The video from last night kinda suggested a rocket malfunctioning, that’s my best wild guess but it’s very hard to say.

There’s like zero on-the-ground reporting from any reliable outlet, I don’t think anyone really has an order of magnitude guess how many people got hit.

There’s an MSNBC clip that was pumped hard by the pro-Palestinian propaganda side last night, where the reporter says “we’re hearing reports that hundreds died, but no one is allowing us near the hospital.” He then goes on to repeat Israel’s claim that it was a Hamas rocket, and points out that Israel has lied in the past, with examples.

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“Hundreds dead” got blasted all over the internet but that seems to be based on nothing but a Hamas spokesperson. I can’t imagine the hospital parking lot was empty but it’s also hard to see hundreds of people dead from what the photos coming out now.

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Sure, I’m just saying that there’s no discernible difference to Hamas if they properly manage their PR. The extremists and the distressed Paletinians won’t change their view based on that.

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Isnt this “anybody who speculated whether they were right or wrong?” Otherwise, we are being super results oriented.

Especially Netanyahu’s aide that preemptively confessed to the strike:

At the point Yuv made that post, there was already beginning to emerge possible evidence that Israel wasn’t behind the damage at the hospital. Calling it “wild speculation” is a bit over the top imo.

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Saw a tweet where they were talking about this, apparently there were some people camping out there

Absolutely agreed.

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Fair. Poor use of the term. I was just saying in a known misinformation environment it might be best to reserve all conclusions until the best evidence is available.

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Apparently thousands of people were sheltering there and 40,000 people are sheltering at a larger hospital 5 miles away.

The second doctor interviewed said Al Alhi was actually struck twice in back-to-back days and that the death toll has surpassed 800.

From the BBC article suzzer posted:

Canon Richard Sewell, the dean of St George’s College in Jerusalem, told the BBC that about 1,000 displaced people were sheltering in the courtyard when it was hit, and about 600 patients and staff were inside the building.

Would indicate there could be a lot of casualties even if the hospital itself didn’t get hit.

Someone needs to find the “today I’m a virology expert” → “today I’m a Ukraine military expert” meme and add “today I’m a middle east rocket expert”

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If that’s the case (and who knows), Yglesias’s comment seems incredibly dumb now.

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Reading the wikipedia on this incident, it’s not clear cut at all that it was staged. But it does seem possible the fatal shots came from the Palestinians, not the Israelis.