Israel Denies Responsibility for Hospital Attack in Gaza
Itai Bardov
The latest tragedy in the conflict that has sent shockwaves across the international community was the destruction of a hospital in Gaza. Both Hamas and Israel deny responsibility for the deadly hospital bombing that killed hundreds. The countries are trading blame and Ambassador Bardov contends that Israel has evidence to show that they were not the ones behind the attack. This includes a recorded phone call, purportedly between two Hamas operatives.
Itai Bardov, Ambassador of Israel to CARICOM
“This is the hospital and as you can see what we are showing and we show more images, on the bottom left part is what you see is a parking lot that belongs to the hospital. It shows it was actually the parking lot it hit and the colorful image is the hit itself. What happened was this was a misfire by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad or the PIJ. They fired a missile that misfired and one of the landed in the proximity of the hospital in Gaza.”
Voice of: Hamas Operative #1
“And so that is why we are saying it belongs to Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
Voice of: Hamas Operative #2
“What?”
Hamas Operative #1
“They are saying it belongs to Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
Hamas Operative #2
“It’s from us?”
Hamas Operative #1
“It looks like it.”
Hamas Operative #2
“Who is saying this?”
Hamas Operative #1
“They are saying that the missile is local shrapnel and not like Israeli shrapnel.”
Itai Bardov
“No Israel does not attack hospitals, we avoid as much as we can harming civilians. There are two reasons, the more important reason is that we value human life, we value people. If they are not involved we will do whatever we can to avoid harm. However, it is mission impossible the way Hamas operates, it is just impossible to avoid this kind of harm.”
As for the Government of Belize’s position on the conflict, the government has denounced the hostilities between Hamas and Israel and called for immediate de-escalation, while supporting a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Belize has also demanded the right of return for Palestinians displaced from their ancestral homeland.
