How IDF countered Hamas claims over Gaza hospital blast in 2023
This piece details how the IDF Spokesperson's Office verified facts during the 2023 Gaza hospital blast incident. It highlights the internal tension between political pressure to deny allegations and the military's desire to gather intelligence before responding.
Why it matters
The incident illustrates the critical role of information warfare and the challenges of verifying facts in real-time during active conflict zones.
It was the early evening of October 17, 2023, Israel time, and then IDF Chief Spokesman Daniel Hagari was on the way to make a daily statement about the state of the then 10-day-old war.A female officer whispered to him that there were reports of a mass death incident at an attack on a hospital.Hamas had fired a barrage of rockets at 6:15 p.m., Palestinian Islamic Jihad had fired its own barrage of around 10 rockets around 7:00 p., and shortly after that barrage there were reports of an explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital.No reporters asked Hagari any questions about the incident because the reports were still fresh, which was good because no one within Israel's military or government apparatuses had a clue at that point of whether Israel was responsible or not.Hamas claimed around 500 Palestinian civilians had been killed, and the news spread like wildfire across the planet…
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