Don’t confuse us with the facts – PA repeats lie about hospital bombing

• Official PA news agency and top PA official continue to claim that Israel, and not Islamic Jihad, bombed the hospital

Don’t confuse us with the facts because lying to the international community serves us well.

The above statement seems to be what motivates the PA to continue libeling Israel as deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza. Although solid evidence has proven that Israel did not bomb the Al-Ahli Al-Mamadani Hospital in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 17, but that an errant Islamic Jihad rocket fell on the hospital, the PA has embraced this lie.

Nothing upsets the international community more than the killing of innocents, and to win the propaganda war, the PA needs to focus – and invent - civilian casualties in Gaza to be able to make the world forget the atrocities committed against Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists in Israel on October 7.

Eleven days after the bombing of the hospital - and after detailed proof was presented by Israel and others that refutes the Palestinian lie - the official PA news agency still claims that Israel carried out the bombing, committing “a massacre.” It also still repeats the false and exaggerated number of “500 Martyrs” that allegedly died in the hospital bombing, although a senior European intelligence source has estimated that the true death count was no more than 50 people:

”The massacre that the occupation (i.e., Israel) committed when it bombed the Al-Ahli Al-Mamadani Hospital where more than 500 Martyrs ascended to Heaven and thousands were wounded.”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 28, 2023]

Palestinian Media Watch exposed that PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh was likewise repeating the libel as late as a week after the bombing, while PA Chairman Abbas’ advisor Al-Habbash maintained it was a joint Israeli-American bombing.

Still, almost two weeks later, Al-Habbash continues to spread the lie, claiming Israel intentionally aimed at killing civilians in general, and specifically at the Al-Ahli Hospital:

PA Chairman Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Israel, the occupation state… targeted civilians, it even targeted the civilian centers of shelter where the people fled from the bombs. Afterwards, it targeted the hospitals, the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City (sic., refers to a failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad terrorists that hit the hospital; see note below on this libel).”

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Oct. 26, 2023] 

Libel on Baptist Hospital Bombing in Gaza City, October 2023 - A failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad terrorists fell short of Israel and hit the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 17, 2023, during Hamas’ terror war on Israel. The PA and Hamas rushed to libel Israel as being responsible for the bombing and claimed approximately 500 people had been killed, and global media outlets including Reuters and the BBC picked up the Palestinian libel without confirming it. Israel proved with video evidence, including from Al-Jazeera TV, that it was an errant Islamic Jihad rocket that fell on the hospital during a barrage of rocket fire. Israel further published audio recording of a phone conversation between two Hamas terrorists intercepted by Israel on Oct. 17, 2023, in which the terrorists discussed how an Islamic Jihad rocket caused the damage and the shrapnel was "local shrapnel" and not Israeli. Having seen the Israeli evidence, the US later confirmed the Israeli assessment that an Islamic Jihad rocket had caused the damage. A senior European intelligence source estimated that the true death count from the bombing was no more than 50 people.

The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:

“Today, Saturday [Oct. 28, 2023], the PLO Executive Committee held a meeting led by [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, who began the meeting by reading the Al-Fatiha Sura [from the Quran] for the souls of the Martyrs. [Abbas] directed attention to the severity of the situation that our national cause is in, and reviewed the intensive contacts on the regional and international levels to stop the [Israeli] aggression and war crimes against our people (refers to Hamas’ terror war on Israel and Israel’s defense; see note below -Ed.).

The executive committee welcomed our people’s united position against the aggression, and the campaigns of Arab and international solidarity with our people. It called to expand them and to preserve our people’s national unity.

The executive committee emphasized that the heart of the conflict – which the occupation state and its partners are striving to intensify – is the occupation, the settlement enterprise, the [territorial] expansion, the siege, and closing off any prospect of peace by the occupation governments. It added that the basis for achieving security and peace is the implementation of the relevant UN resolutions and realizing the Palestinian people’s rights to freedom and independence.

The executive committee reviewed the war of annihilation, the daily massacres, and the destruction that the occupation is committing against all our people in the Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Jerusalem… which as of now have caused the ascent to Heaven of more than 7,500 Martyrs, the wounding of more than 18,000 people, the destruction of homes, institutions, and towers, and the targeting of mosques, churches, and hospitals, as happened in the massacre that the occupation committed when it bombed the Al-Ahli Al-Mamadani Hospital where more than 500 Martyrs ascended to Heaven and thousands were wounded (sic., refers to failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad terrorists that hit the hospital, killing no more than 50 people according to experts; see note below on this libel)…

The executive committee also emphasized its firm opposition to uprooting our people by force, whether in the Gaza Strip or outside of it, in the West Bank and Jerusalem, as the goal of this uprooting that the occupation is attempting to advance is a new Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) for our people (refers to Israel warning Gazans to flee south away from combat zone -Ed.). Therefore, our people will continue to stand firm on its land, and it has the right to resist and fight for its freedom and independence…

The executive committee said that it is important… to emphasize that our main argument is with the occupation far from any secondary argument (i.e., with Hamas), and to firmly adhere to rejecting any attempt to divert the compass from the main point and to create strife and a rift. It also emphasized that it is important to take care of this through a united national position in order to fight the occupation and its settlers…

In conclusion, the executive committee conveyed all its blessings to the resolve and resistance of our people against the aggression, and also to our heroic prisoners.”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 28, 2023]

Posted text: “[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud] Al-Habbash to the second Algerian radio channel: The The [Israeli] aggression against the Gaza Strip will be a disaster on the entire world (refers to Hamas’ terror war on Israel; see note below -Ed.).”

 

The video contains audio of a radio interview with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash.

 

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Israel, the occupation state, did not leave anything in the Gaza Strip that it did not target. It targeted homes on the heads of their residents, it bombed mosques and churches, and killed people who found shelter in them. It targeted civilians, it even targeted the civilian centers of shelter where the people fled from the bombs. Afterwards, it targeted the hospitals, the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City (sic., refers to a failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad terrorists that hit the hospital; see note below on this libel).”

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Oct. 26, 2023] 

 Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Supreme Shari’ah Judge and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice.
 

Hamas war on Israel October 2023 - At least 1,200 Israelis, including over 1,000 civilians, were murdered and over 4,800 wounded, in addition to approximately 244 who were abducted into the Gaza Strip (including 110 later released or liberated and at least 26 later killed), in a Hamas terror war that began when approximately 3,000 Hamas terrorists broke through Israel's security fence at the Gaza Strip border and launched a surprise attack, taking control of several Israeli towns and attacking a music festival on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which fell on the Sabbath, Oct. 7, 2023. During the massacre the terrorists tortured, raped, shot, beheaded, and burned their victims alive, murdering entire families and leaving at least 21 children without parents. Hamas terrorists also fired at least 5,000 rockets at Israeli population centers. In response, Israel launched Operation Iron Swords to counter the Hamas terror threat. Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon joined Hamas' terror war starting from the following day, attacking Israel from the north. Occasional rocket launches and shootings continued from Lebanon throughout the war. A ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal began on Nov. 24, 2023, in which Israel agreed to release 150 terrorist prisoners, pause drone surveillance in the Gaza Strip, and allow movement between the northern and southern Gaza Strip, in return for 50 Israeli female and child hostages held by Hamas. The deal was subsequently extended with additional releases, until Hamas violated the agreement and resumed attacking on Dec. 1, 2023.