Israel claims Gaza hospital blast caused by Palestinian rockets

Israel says a blast at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday evening was caused by a rocket misfired by Palestinian militants.

The IDF says its evidence shows a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket, fired from a cemetery, landed in the hospital car park, BBC reports.

Israel presented images and transcripts of conversations at a press briefing on Wednesday morning.

At the press conference, spokesman Daniel Hagari also claimed if the IDF was responsible for the blast there would have been a "crater" or some "structural damage".

Showing a diagram of the hospital, he says there is no such damage - "the walls stay intact".

He says this is because the blast was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket, which "failed to launch" properly and was "misfired".

Hamas, Palestinian authorities, and other countries blame Israel for the explosion, which Hamas says killed 500 people.

Israel has carried out air strikes on targets across Gaza since the Hamas attacks on 7 October.

A BBC Verify team is investigating the explosion.

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