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Israelis and Palestinians Dodge Blame Over Gaza Hospital Strike

For an understanding of the particular ugliness of warfare between Israel and Hamas, look no further than Monday's incident involving a strike on Gaza's Shifa hospital. Both sides are blaming the other for the incident, which killed 10 and injured scores.

By Adam Chandler
This article is from the archive of our partner .

For an understanding of the particular ugliness of warfare between Israel and Hamas, look no further than Monday's incident involving a strike on Gaza's Shifa hospital. Both sides are blaming the other for the incident, which killed 10 and injured scores at Gaza's largest hospital.

And here's how NBC led off the story:

The Israel Defense Forces has issued a statement saying that the Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad was responsible:

The failed rocket launches which hit the Shifa Hospital and the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip were Islamic Jihad's, Government Coordinator in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai says, according to the Palestinian news agency Ma'an. 

NBC later updated its story, refraining from placing the blame on either side.

Israel's Channel Two:

Channel 2 reports there are “indications” that the explosion in the area of Shifa hospital are the result of Hamas fire.

He says the blast may have been the result of a technical malfunction in an attempt to fire a long-range Fajr-5 rocket at central Israel from Gaza.

Israel has a not-so-illustrious history of striking hospitals and other sites it says are being used to store weapons and/or fire at Israeli troops and cities, such as a recent claim that Hamas fired an anti-tank missile from a UN school.

Meanwhile, rockets fired by Hamas and other groups commonly misfire and fall short, ending up killing Palestinians citizens in Gaza. Here's a video of one such incident:

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.