Who Destroyed the Hospital?
A historian waits for evidence
Destroyed hospital in Gaza.
This morning we have another gigantic unanswered “fog of war” question.
Since Tuesday, the question has been: “Did it happen?” Did Hamas cut off the heads of 40 people including babies and toddlers? The only reason I jumped all over that claim was that it fit a classic war rumor/disinformation pattern. An anonymous Israeli soldier supposedly told the story to a single Israeli television journalist. There is no visual evidence, and no confirmation by the Israeli government. Since the Palestinians were happy to film their atrocities and send video files to the victim’s relatives, you would think that they would have spread the pictures on this one, too.
Today’s Unanswered Question
Today’s war mystery is: “Who dunnit?” Who blew up the hospital?” We have only guesses at this point. There is no historical pattern that points to one side or the other. But I will give you possible scenarios that could point toward either side.
Israel Did It
Maybe the hospital was blown up by a missile shot by a rogue Israeli pilot who wanted to exact meaningful revenge on Gazans. I don’t know.
Hamas Did It
Maybe the hospital was blown up by a malfunctioning Gazan rocket as the Israeli government claims. If so, is the Israeli government just guessing or does it have evidence? One war correspondent on MSNBC opined that this seemed to be a much larger explosion than Gazan rockets ordinarily cause. That makes sense, because if Hamas had rockets that could do this much damage, there would have been some pretty horrible rocket hits in southern Israel, doing very newsworthy damage. Another possibility is that Hamas is so malignant that they deliberately blew up their own hospital to blame the Israelis for it. I think that is within the range of their barbarity.
Bottom Line
The question remains: “Who destroyed the hospital?
The answer remains: “We don’t know.”
However, if you want a review of successive Israel Defense Force explanations and some comic speculation, I suggest:
I thought it was the parking lot next to the hospital that got blown up. I saw a photo of smashed and burned cars, suggesting a 10-15 foot blast radius. Was this wrong?
Fog of war, yes. Just want to add that retired General Mark Hertling on CNN said last night that the Israeli's say they have drone evidence and will release it. Will that suffice as evidence?