TEL AVIV — The U.S. has assessed that the deadly blast at a Gaza hospital Tuesday was most likely caused by a misfired rocket from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to two U.S. officials and a congressional staffer. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.
NBC News consulted four military and munitions experts. One agreed with the U.S. assessment, which President Joe Biden hinted at during his trip to Israel on Wednesday. Three agreed the blast wasn’t from Israel. The experts were shown parts of more than a dozen videos and pictures from the incident at al-Ahli Baptist Hospital and its aftermath that have been geolocated and analyzed by NBC News; some said the marks left by the projectile aren’t consistent with the weaponry Israel has used recently.
The analysis of the experts and U.S. officials is likely to do little to stanch the anger felt across the Arab world, which gives credence to the version of events put forward by Palestinian officials and Hamas: that Israel hit the hospital and killed hundreds of civilians in a deliberate act.