News, facts, fiction and fake news

I haven't written anything on this blog for a a decade but this was important enough that I felt I had to write it.

Some background 

I worked for the BBC TV News many years ago and there was a principle that they had in the news that they would go with a story based on a staff reporter but require at least two 'stringers' to go with a story if not verified by a staff reporter. I also filmed in Northern Ireland during 'the Troubles'. There were approximately 30,000 terror attacks during the Troubles and I remember during my time at school we regularly practiced bomb alerts so we knew what to do. Filming in Belfast I ended up seeing what it felt like to have the British military point guns at you. 

Explosion at the Anglican Hospital in Gaza

The news item that I want to cover to illustrate the problem is what was first announced as an 'Israeli missile attack' on the Anglican Hospital in Gaza. Someone I knew some years ago had been a plastic surgeon working at that hospital and I had talked with her about it so I felt I knew the place albeit that I had never visited it. Here's how I first heard the news: I listen to BBC World Service News during the night so it was an audio-only radio version. 

During the night the BBC went to their staff reporter in Gaza for the news of the event. He talked of hundreds of Palestinians taking shelter in the hospital compound sleeping on mattresses on the ground for safety. He talked about body parts strewn around and the figure of 500 deaths was mentioned. The impression one got was of total devastation.

Early in the morning, the BBC spoke to an IDF spokesman who blamed the Palestinians for a failed rocket. The BBC asked for what evidence he had for that and the spokesman claimed the Al Jazeera live feed showed the rocket exploding in mid-air then falling to the ground. The BBC presenter then said he was looking at the same Al Jazeera feed and he thought it appeared to show an explosion mid-air followed by the rocket falling to the ground and then some seconds later a second explosion on the ground possibly caused by an IDF missile. 

The BBC have a copy of this video on their website. It appeared to corroborate what the BBC presenter claimed if the deaths were as high as initially believed. 

The IDF spokesman then became desperate, pleading with the BBC presenter to believe his side of the story and then said they also had an intercept from communications between terrorists that proved they were correct. Asked if they would make that available the IDF spokesman became evasive and said they wanted to protect their sources. He continued pleading with the BBC that they were telling the truth. The whole demeanor of the IDF spokesman was not very professional and so he came across with all the pleading as untrustworthy.

The BBC also had an interview with a university professor in Gaza who claimed to have seen the event. He claimed that yes, the missile had exploded and fallen to the ground but there was also an F16 or F35 in the area that fired a missile at roughly the same time and it was that missile that hit the Anglican Hospital in Gaza.  

I have had friends who are Al Jazeera reporters and their thesis to 'tell the truth but to always look for the conflict in the story'. So I know their approach. Their story headlined 'An explosion hit a hospital at Gaza city, killing at least 500 people and sparking international condemnations.' It was repeating again the number of 500.

Image from Al Jazeerah website

The image looked horrendous! It was obviously a composite, but I assumed used some images from the hospital. Al Jazeera cited the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem in a statement under the heading

Church condemns massacre at hospital and grieves the loss of 100s of innocent civilians

'The devastation witnessed, coupled with the sacrilegious targeting of the church, strikes at the very core of human decency. We assert unequivocally that this is deserving international condemnation and retribution.'

I've met Archbishop Hosam Naoum and I know how careful the diocese are with facts, usually to the point of making an interesting news story boring. 

Checking other sites the images were equally horrific. For example NDTV:

NDTV used AFP (Agence France Press) material and had a photograph that showed people looking at a building in total devastation.

I knew the Cyprus Picture Editor for AFP some years ago and I new how careful they are with their images. They frequently win awards for their photojournalism.

The article cites UN Human Rights Chield Volker Turk.

"Words fail me," Volker Turk said in a statement.

"Hundreds of people were killed -- horrifically -- in a massive strike at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, including patients, healthcare workers and families that had been seeking refuge in and around the hospital. 

"Once again the most vulnerable. This is totally unacceptable." 

This is the image they carried: There is massive destruction of reinforced concrete structures and a huge crater. There is an ambulance in the background.

Photo uncredited on NDTV site assumed to be AFP

However...

However, that is not the whole story nor all the facts. Later in the day the BBC came up with a different version of the news of the hospital attack on their website. In that article  they have three photos.

Photo Credit: Reuters

So then I went to Google Earth to verify. Here's a screen capture showing where I believe those photos are taken from:

Image Credit: Google Earth

So the photos appear to match the location (whereas the image from NDTV could be anywhere) but the important thing is, they don't show massive destruction and I would be skeptical of 500 deaths and it looks more like a flash burn from rocket fuel than an Israeli rocket! Although the 'body parts' would have been cleared away quickly there was no remains of the mattresses mentioned at all, and it didn't look like hundreds of people had been there overnight.

There is also some video available that shows how little (relatively) damage there is in the area. A JDAM like the IDF use leaves a very large crater:

This photo comparison provided by

@Israel_Alma_org

, a man who served as a JTAC (A Joint Tactical Air Controller /Forward Observer) who coordinated air and artillery strikes.

Audio intercept

Then later in the morning... the IDF did release what they claimed to be the intercept of the mobile call between terrorists that their spokesperson mentioned.

Link: IDF post of intercept of discussion between terrorists

Transcript:

Hamas operative 1: I'm telling you this is the first time that we see a missile like this falling
Hamas operative 2:  And so that's why we are saying it belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Hamas operative 1: What!?
Hamas operative 2:  They are saying it belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Hamas operative 1: It's from us?
Hamas operative 2: It looks like it!
Hamas operative 1: Who says this?
Hamas operative 2: They are saying that the shrapnel from the missile is local shrapnel and not like Israeli shrapnel.
Hamas operative 1: What are you saying (name)?
SILENCE
Hamas operative 2: But God bless, it couldn't have found another place to explode?
Hamas operative 1: Never mind, yes, (name) they shot it from the cemetery behind the hospital.
Hamas operative 2: What?!
Hamas operative 1: They shot it coming from the cemetery behind the Al-Ma'amadani Hospital and it misfired and fell on them.
Hamas operative 2:  There's a cemetery behind it?
Hamas operative 1: Yes, Al-Ma'amadani is exactly in the compound.
SILENCE
Hamas operative 2:  Where is it when you enter the compound?
Hamas operative 1: You first enter the compound and don't go toward the city and it's on the right side of the Al-Ma'amadani Hospital.
Hamas operative 2:  Yes, I know it.

Some thoughts on this audio intercept: Firstly the audio quality is excellent. The IDF probably therefore cleaned it up but that reduces the credibility of the audio. Secondly the Arabic sounds very clean, there are no expletives for something potentially a major catastrophe. Thirdly the content is almost too neat explaining everything.

So back to Google Earth...

Image Credit: Google Earth

But, some of the video from another TV station in southern Israel seems to show the launch location further away, although the scale on that video is difficult to tell.

Number of deaths much lower than originally reported

Later in the day, the number of injuries and deaths was reversed downwards to maybe 50 deaths. This is still horrendous but nothing like the 500 it started from! That was credible for the photos that I could verify the location for.

The bottom line is that it appears that the IDF version of events is most likely correct but because of their pleading and evasive press spokesman early on, they lost credibility! 

Footnote

There is something to add... some days earlier (Saturday 14 October) the hospital or close to it had been hit severely damaging their diagnostic centre.

Damage at al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza after it was hit by a missile on Saturday evening

Photo Credit: Anglican / Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem