The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday night released footage it claims shows a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket misfiring and causing an explosion in a residential area of Jabalya that reportedly killed numerous people, including four children.
The rocket was launched at 6:51 p.m. local time, according to the IDF, and was detected by the military’s ballistic missile defense center. PIJ is experiencing an average of 20% misfired rockets, according to the military.
As of Sunday morning, terrorists from Gaza had fired some 600 projectiles towards the Jewish state since the IDF launched “Operation Breaking Dawn” on Friday afternoon.
More than 100 of these rockets fell short in Gaza, killing at least nine people, according to the IDF.
8 seconds video shows what killed the 4 children in #GazaUnderAttack.
The rocket is fired from #Jeblia camp in the Gaza Strip, goes up and then falls and blows up within the buildings.
It’s a Palestinian rocket that hits Palestinian civilians. pic.twitter.com/dY9QYN6c0a— Ariel Kahana אריאל כהנא (@arik3000) August 6, 2022
The Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office released a statement countering reports that the event in Jabalya was the result of Israeli military activity.
“We have in our possession videos that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this incident was not the result of an Israel Defense Forces strike,” said the statement, adding, “It has been irrefutably proven that this … was the result of the misfiring of a rocket launched by Islamic Jihad. All fire by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization is a double war crime: It is shooting at civilians, and using Gazan civilians as human shields.”
Following the reports of the tragic events in Jabaliya, the IDF concluded an in-depth debrief. Based on all the IDF systems data, it appears that this event is the outcome of an Islamic Jihad rocket misfire. We did not conduct any activities in Jabaliya at the time of the event.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 6, 2022
A spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid similarly confirmed that there was no Israeli activity near Jabalya at the time of the incident.
“Islamic Jihad is killing Palestinian children in Gaza. One in four rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel lands inside the Gaza Strip. Iran’s proxies, including Islamic Jihad, have a long history of hiding behind civilians to target Israeli civilians,” the spokeswoman continued. “The world should be outraged at this terrorist group targeting innocent Israelis and killing innocent Gazans.”
Studies of last year’s conflict revealed that rocket fire from Gaza killed more Gazans than Israelis. One of the most distressing aspects of media coverage of the 2021 fighting was the deaths of children. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel found that 62 children in Gaza under 16 were killed. However, at least nine of these youths were killed by errant Hamas rockets. According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel, nine children and 10 adults were killed by Palestinian rocket fire. OCHA concluded, “The result was Hamas killing its own civilians and destroying infrastructure.” In 2015, a Hamas rocket fell short and killed 11 children.
While the IDF makes every effort to protect the innocent, Hamas makes every effort to put them in harm’s way. Hamas intentionally places its missile launchers, mortars, armories, tunnel systems and other weaponry in civilian areas. Hamas terror tunnels have been found underneath schools and apartment buildings and adjacent to hospitals.
