Scott Ritter raises some uncomfortable questions about the Oct. 17 explosion at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, in his Oct. 20. RT article. First, he finds the Israel Defense Forces’ assertion that they were conducting no operations in the vicinity of the hospital to be contradicted by the “compelling, evidenced-based timeline” done by Al Jazeera, showing four different airstrikes in the area, in the 2 to 6 minutes before the hospital itself was hit.
Then, interestingly, he finds the Israeli contention regarding the lack of a crater, large enough to account for an explosive power capable of killing hundreds of Palestinians, to be on the mark. However, that same argument eliminates Hamas (and Islamic Jihad) and points the finger at “another weapon that Israel was making extensive use of in the Gaza conflict—the Mikholit air-to-ground missile, carried on Hermes 450 drones.” Besides their use for “roof-knocking” strikes, “designed to alert residents of buildings designated for destruction to flee,” it “was also used to carry out precise strikes designed to neutralize a target while minimizing collateral damage.”
However, the most unique element in his analysis is one that hoists, as it were, Netanyahu on his own petard. Ritter does this simply by a close reading of the Oct. 17 posting on the official Israeli government site at 8:23 pm by Hananya Naftali, a digital content advisor to Netanyahu. Naftali first posted: “Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza. A multiple number of terrorists are dead. It’s heartbreaking that Hamas is launching rockets from hospitals, mosques, schools, and using civilians as human shields.” When, shortly afterwards, he deleted the posting, he claimed that he had incorrectly posted it based on a Reuters news story.
