Al Jazeera has debunked claims by Israel that a failed rocket missile hit Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza Tuesday night killing at least 471 people.
Al Jazeera reached the conclusion by analysing video images of rockets fired from both Israel and Gaza at around the time the strike hit the hospital killing patients and civilians that had sought refuge at the hospital.
Al Jazeera's digital investigation team, SANAD, analysed the station's live-stream second-by-second starting at 6.45 pm Tuesday, October 17.
They identified four Israeli air strikes on Gaza targeting the area near the hospital at 6.54 pm, 6.55 pm, 6.57 pm and 6.58 pm.
They also referenced multiple video images showing a series of rocket launches from Gaza but the video analysis shows that they were all intercepted by Israel's automatic air defence system, Iron Dome.
Another rocket launched from Gaza, the one Israel claims hit the hospital, is captured on video at 6.59 pm being intercepted by the Iron Dome.
"A closer look at the video captured by the Al Jazeera live feed shows the rocket being completely destroyed and broken apart in the sky," Al Jazeera said.
"According to all feeds and videos analysed, this rocket was intercepted and was the last one launched from Gaza before the bombing of the hospital."
Five seconds after the interception, the live stream shows an explosion in Gaza followed two seconds later by a larger explosion.
"This is the strike that hit the Al-Ahli Arab hospital. As a result, Al Jazeera digital investigations team found no ground in the Israeli Army claim that the strike on the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a failed rocket launch."
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Tuesday distanced themselves from the deadly strike on the hospital and blamed the same on the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization operating in Gaza.
This statement was reaffirmed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement on X shortly after the catastrophe on October 17.
"An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit. Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza," the PM said.
"The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza and not the IDF. Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children," he added.
The IDF also posted an audio recording of an alleged conversation between two Islamist militants confirming that the strike on the hospital was from one of their rockets.
US President Joe Biden backed Israel's claims the Jewish country was not responsible for the strike saying he was "deeply saddened and outraged" by the explosion.
"Based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you," he told Netanyahu shortly after landing in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.