October 7 - Hamas conducts a horrific terrorist attack on Israel. Israel so badly fumbles the response that the extent of the destruction is enormous. ~1,200 Israelis killed - mostly by Hamas, but certainly some by trigger happy IDF goons and Apache helicopter pilots. ~200 Hamas gunmen killed - these will bolster the official Israeli death count for a month, with no questions asked. Some will still cite 1400 as the Israeli death toll from October 7. Also do note - the deaths on October 7 were because Hamas killed people (even though clearly, so did the IDF) - but any deaths in Gaza that happened after that, well they just happened. No attributable cause - air strikes apparently are an unpreventable Act of Nature.
Early October:
Israel warns hospitals in northern Gaza, including Al Ahli, to evacuate.
Israel hits Al Ahli hospital with shells.
October 17 - a fiery explosion in the courtyard of Al Ahli hospital kills hundreds. The Gaza Health Ministry claims at least 500 dead but later revises this down to 471 identified corpses. The IDF denies that they bombed the site as they claim they were not bombing anything anywhere near Al Ahli - and then blames it on a misfiring Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket.
October 18 - in the light of the morning, it is clear that the destruction of the hospital courtyard was not caused by one of the IDF's larger JDAM missiles. The crater is too small and the damage is inconsistent with what should result from a thousand pounds of conventional high explosives going off in the area. That said, the IDF has a very wide range of munitions.
Late October:
Video evidence is cited showing a rocket barrage being launched towards Israel and one rocket spiraling out of control a few seconds before the hospital explosion goes off. There is only the primary hospital explosion - no secondary explosions as would be expected if the damage was caused by munitions stored at the hospital. The IDF releases an obviously fake tape of intercepted communications where Hamas agents say that Israel is great and they are evil and also that they were responsible for the hospital explosion. The US and Biden explicitly endorses this "anything bad could not have been done by Israel" theory. Multiple media outlets like CNN also endorse it. None of the parties supporting this view provide any evidence other than what has been described. No analysis is shown either. Neither the IDF nor the US agree to any independent investigation of the incident, saying that it would not be appropriate.
The NYTimes Visual Investigations Team analyzes the out-of-control rocket video and four other related videos. They conclude that the out-of-control rocket was launched from inside Israel and provide the details of their analysis. They also conclude that this rocket could not have caused the hospital explosion unless it was travelling at ludicrously high speeds even for a rocket. They also note that you can see two other explosions near the hospital in the lead up to the deadly explosion including before the rocket barrage is launched - almost as if the active airstrike campaign was in fact servicing targets near the hospital.
The IDF releases an animation showing underground rooms and a network of tunnels they claim is beneath Al Shifa hospital. Al Shifa has been an obsession of the IDF for years - they are positive beyond all reason that Hamas is using a vast underground network as a command and control centre and that this is where the hostages are being kept.
More evacuation notices are delivered to hospitals again.
November thus far:
Al Rantisi hospital is raided by the IDF. This is a children's hospital which has multiple premature babies on incubators. They find zero hostages and zero Hamas fighters - but they do find an improvised hastily built underground shelter. Since Israeli bombs cannot hurt anyone but Hamas, obviously this shelter could only have been used to hold hostages. There could be no other explanation why a territory undergoing the most aggressive bombing campaign in decades could possibly build shelters underground other than to hold hostages.
They also find a calendar. A Hamas calendar with the names of the Hamas terrorist guards that were watching over the hostages, These guards are named things like "Monday" and "Saturday".
The IDF posts and then deletes a tweet where they explicitly state that hospitals and ambulances are legitimate targets. Note that the reasoning used in this tweet "they are used by Hamas, we don't have to show you any evidence of it because it is so obviously true" is one that IDF spokesmen have been repeating for weeks.
The IDF begins operations to raid Al Shifa. The Israeli government's official Twitter posts a video from "an Al Shifa nurse" claiming that the hospital is overrun with Hamas that are constantly stealing all the hospital supplies. People actually in Al Shifa hospital all say they do not recognize this nurse - and no wonder, she is later revealed to be an Israeli actress originally from Mexico. The Israeli government deletes their post with the video.
The IDF raids Al Shifa. There is zero armed resistance from within the hospital - the Hamas command and control centre has zero armed guards. No underground command and control structures are found. No hostages are found. No Hamas fighters are found. The IDF delivers "medical supplies" to Al Shifa shortly before they release a video showing that there was "a lot" of military hardware at Al Shifa. Multiple grab bags with live grenades and assault rifles are stashed behind MRI machines. Yes, this is insane - MRI machines have immensely powerful electromagnets inside them - so stashing the grab bag here renders the MRI machine unusable. Alternately, someone lazily planting evidence might have just picked that spot because it was convenient. In one of the shots of these grab bags, a box almost identical to the "medical supplies" boxes can be seen in the background. A few hours later when the embedded BBC reporters are toured around the facility, the grab bag behind the MRI machine mysteriously has different gear in it. This IDF video introduces a new meme to the world - Hamas dates. Apparently among the evil terrorist contraband at Al Shifa is a box of dates.
After holding Al Shifa for over a week, the IDF find a tunnel. 55 metres long - but apparently not actually going anywhere. With zero Hamas fighters or hostages inside. Also, no one is allowed to go inside of it.
Former Israeli PM Ehud Omert says that the actual command and control centre for Hamas is in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, where Israel has been telling Gazan internally displaced people to move to.
Israel tells people in Khan Younis, especially those at hospitals, to evacuate.
Indonesian Hospital (which is in northern Gaza and where Emily Callahan was volunteering for MSF) is surrounded by tanks. Airstrikes in southern Gaza intensify. The IDF raids Ibn Sina hospital in the West Bank.
No comments:
Post a Comment