By JNS

UPDATE: The Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror organization was responsible for an explosion at the Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, due to a misfired rocket intended to kill Israeli civilians, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). CLICK FOR FULL STORY HERE

A failed Hamas rocket launch killed hundreds of Palestinians on Tuesday night at the Al Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza City.

First clear footage from the Al Ahli tragedy in Gaza, but what do you notice?
this is a surface explosion, almost no soil is thrown up, so it’s not an air bomb.
Looks like a failed Hamas rocket that landed there, what a tragedy has Hamas brought to the people of Gaza! pic.twitter.com/MNzo16ZKXt

— David Lisovtsev (@david_lisovtsev) October 17, 2023

“According to a preliminary investigation, the attack on the hospital was not from our forces,” the IDF said in a statement cited by Israeli media.

Hamas had charged that “the massacre at the Baptist Hospital is a crime of genocide,” and called on Arab and Islamic countries to “intervene immediately.”

The terror group also urged Arabs in Judea and Samaria to attack Israeli forces to “avenge the massacre.”

Footage circulating on social media showed a Hamas rocket misfiring, crashing into the Gaza Strip. It is unclear if the rocket in question was the projectile which struck the hospital.

Video of the Hamas rocket that fell short in Gaza striking a hospital killing 500+ people.

Stop falling for Hamas propaganda. They are lying. They always do. pic.twitter.com/dMd61zLkUQ

— Han Shawnity 🇺🇸 (@HanShawnity) October 17, 2023

The explosion rocked the hospital as Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired heavy barrages of rockets at southern and central Israel, with alarms sounding in major cities, including Rishon Letzion, Petach Tikvah, Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Bat Yam.

 Hamas’s Izzad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said it targeted the northern Israeli city of Haifa with an R-160 long-range rocket.

Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups fire rockets from within residential areas in the enclave, with weapons often placed inside or near hospitals and other public buildings.

During the May 2021 Gaza conflict, some 15 percent of all rockets launched by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fell short inside Gaza, killing many Palestinians inside the enclave.