The Israeli military said on Tuesday that the explosion that killed 500 Palestinians at a hospital in Gaza was the result of a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militants towards Israel.

The Gaza authorities’ communications office denounced the “war crime.”

An Israeli army spokesman assured that “multiple intelligence sources indicate that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed launch of the rocket that hit the hospital.” Earlier, the Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, referred to it as an Israeli bombardment.

“Between 200 and 500 martyrs” were killed in the bombing of the Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City, and “hundreds of people lie under the rubble,” the ministry said in a statement.

Initially there was talk of a minimum of 200 people, but with another announcement the number grew.

Unverified photos circulating on social media showed fire engulfing the corridors of al-Ahli hospital, broken glass and remains of bodies scattered across the area. Hundreds of people were reportedly seeking shelter at the hospital at the time of the explosion.

Several hospitals in Gaza City have become shelters for hundreds of people, hoping to avoid shelling after Israel ordered all residents of the city and surrounding areas to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip.

“The hospital housed hundreds of sick and injured people, as well as people forcibly displaced” as a result of the bombings, the statement said.

About 3,000 people were killed in Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip as part of reprisals following the Oct. 7 raid by hundreds of Islamist militiamen who killed about 1,400 people and kidnapped nearly 200. (JO)