Confusion still reigns over the cause of the explosion at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza on October 17. Hamas points to an Israeli missile, while the Israeli armed forces claim that the explosion was caused by a rocket misfired by Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. Here's what we know based on the images filmed at the time of the attack and its aftermath.
Two days after the explosion at Gaza's al-Ahli hospital, Israeli authorities and Palestinian groups are passing the blame back and forth. Hamas accuses Israel of bombing the hospital, claiming that the alleged strike was "carried out using American military arsenal available only to the occupier (Israel)". According to the Gazan Ministry of Health in the Hamas-controlled territory, at least 471 people were killed in the explosion.
The Israeli Defence Forces countered the accusation using satellite images and videos shared widely online to maintain that the explosion was caused by a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket.
Joe Biden, on a visit to Israel the day after the attack, also supported the Israeli version: "Based on the information we've seen to date, it appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza," the US president declared, asserting that these conclusions were based on a US assessment of culpability from intelligence sources.
But what is the truth? To date, numerous images posted online have helped to reconstruct the sequence of events.
A misfired rocket?
At 6:59pm (local time), while the Qatari channel Al Jazeera was filming Gaza City from the Zeitoun district in the northern part of Gaza, the camera picked up what appeared to be a rocket that deviated from its trajectory and exploded in mid-air.
Five seconds later, the camera points to a first explosion on the ground. A second later, a second explosion hit the hospital, which can be identified in the video by the solar panels on its roof. The geolocation collective GeoConfirmed confirmed the location of the video in the hours that followed (see below).
The scene was also filmed from other angles, like in this video taken a few hundred metres from the scene, spotted and confirmed by the Washington Post.
A hospital on fire, burnt-out cars and dozens of bodies
The Observers team was able to verify four videos filmed in the hospital courtyard on the evening of October 17 following the explosion.
Two of the videos show raging fires in the hospital courtyard. One of them shows several cars on fire in the courtyard (see below).
A third video shows a body in an alley near the car park, which is still ablaze.
A fourth sequence filmed the same evening shows dozens of lifeless bodies lying in the grass, some mangled or burnt.
Buildings still standing and a small crater
The following morning, several news agencies, including Reuters, released new videos and photos of the site in the full light of day.
They showed burnt-out cars, debris and clothes on the ground, and that some of the iron barriers along the car park had been damaged by the explosion. But apart from several shattered windows, none of the buildings in the courtyard appear to have suffered any major damage, as shown by the many photos released by Reuters.
One of these photos also shows a crater less than a metre in diameter.
Based on the size of the crater, some experts have said that the explosion couldn't have been caused by an airstrike. One of them is Marc Garlasco, military adviser for the PAX Protection of Civilians organisation.
On X (formerly Twitter), he indicated that airstrikes like those carried out by Israel since October 7 were inconsistent with the damage seen at the scene of the hospital: "Even the smallest JDAM leaves a 3m crater. Widespread surface damage and total lack of cratering inconsistent with an airstrike."
This hypothesis was also supported by three other experts contacted by the BBC Verify team.
However, several experts contacted by FRANCE 24 refused to comment on the situation, saying that it was currently impossible to determine the cause of the explosion from these images alone.
Death toll still unclear
There are also other uncertainties surrounding the death toll from the explosion. While the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health has put the death toll at 471, it is as yet impossible to determine the number of fatalities. Some sources have questioned the Palestinian version; an unclassified US intelligence report reportedly seen by Reuters on Thursday estimated that the number of fatalities was "probably at the low end of the 100 to 300 spectrum", but stressed that this assessment would likely evolve.
This is not the first time that the hospital has come under fire. On October 14, three days before the explosion, the al-Ahli hospital had already been damaged by rocket fire, as condemned by several Christian organisations, which announced that four people had been injured.
In a press release published on October 14, the World Health Organisation (WHO) condemned the Israeli forces' orders to evacuate "22 hospitals treating more than 2,000 inpatients in northern Gaza".
