Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari revealed Saturday one-fifth of the terror rockets launched by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) against Israel have failed and fallen into the Gaza Strip.
“More than 550 rockets launched by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have failed, killing innocent civilians in Gaza,” Hagari said. “They are killing their own civilians.”
The issue of failed terrorist rockets came to the fore on Tuesday night after a rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad misfired and wrought destruction on the parking lot of the Al Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza.
The Gaza Health Ministry – which is under the control of Hamas – was quick to blame the explosion on an Israeli airstrike, claiming that the hospital had been destroyed and killed as many as 500 people.
Media Repeat Hamas Propaganda on Hospital Blast; Israel Shows Evidence Terrorist Rocket Responsible
However, after investigations by the Israelis as well as multiple governments and intelligence agencies around the world, including the analysis of video and captured communications of Hamas fighters admitting the rocket was theirs, it was determined that the explosion was caused by the misfired PIJ rocket.
In the end only the parking lot was heavily damaged, and the fatalities caused by the accident were far less than the Hamas report alleged.
A number of international news organizations, including the BBC, the New York Times, and the Associated Press, repeated the false claims made by Hamas and the Palestinian governmental organizations under their control.
Several days later, it doesn’t appear the news organizations that spread the false news promoted by Hamas have taken any public corrective action or disciplined any of the employees involved.
Israel has been bombing Hamas and PIJ targets inside Gaza since the terror groups launched a brutal surprise attack against the Jewish state that killed more than 1,200 people.
In addition to the killings, Hamas operatives raped and brutalized hundreds of Israelis and kidnapped more than 200 people.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel. The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.