Analysis of Gaza hospital attack contradicts Israel's evidence justifying airstrike

Israel has escalated its attacks in Gaza in the last two days, striking two of the Palestinian territory's largest working hospitals.

CCTV footage, verified by Sky News, shows the moment of the attack on the European Hospital near Khan Younis on Tuesday 13 May. Another video, taken from outside the grounds of the hospital, shows plumes of smoke rising from the compound.

At least 16 people were killed, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is part of the territory's Hamas-led government. What the evidence says about Israel's claims Israel said it was targeting a Hamas "command and control centre" buried beneath the hospital, and published a video taken from an aerial surveillance aircraft.

In the footage, a building is highlighted and marked as "European Hospital". However, Sky News has confirmed that the footage does not in fact show the European Hospital, but the adjacent Ihsan Al Agha school.

In the video, a series of dark shapes are also highlighted and labelled as "underground terrorist infrastructure site revealed following the strike". However, there is no obvious damage visible in the video, and an eyewitness told Sky News that there had been no damage to the school's courtyard.

An expert told Sky News that the dark shapes appear to be markings caused by water, rather than exposed underground infrastructure such as tunnels. "That does look quite obviously to be a drainage ditch with dendritic flow patterns of water heading into the ditch," said Corey Scher, an expert in the use of satellite imagery to assess military and environmental damage at Oregon State University.

"The same drainage patterns are readily visible in [earlier] imagery. These appear to be ditches draining water." A spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed to Sky News that the footage shows an area outside the hospital grounds.

The spokesperson said that the "underground infrastructure" continued under the hospital, but did not provide any evidence of this. The spokesperson also did not address the analysis that the video shows markings caused by water, rather than underground infrastructure.

The IDF has escalated attacks in recent days The attack on the European Hospital came just hours after Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, was hit by an Israeli strike. The video below, taken by Palestinian journalist Alam Sadeq and verified by Sky News, shows the immediate aftermath of the strike.

The two top floors on the eastern side of the hospital are on fire, and an Israeli aircraft can be heard in the background. Israel says it was targeting Hamas officials who were using that part of the hospital as a base, but has not provided any evidence to support this.

Local media have reported that Israel was targeting Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar. Since 18 March, when it abandoned a US-brokered ceasefire, Israel has declared 65% of the Gaza Strip to be active combat zones - meaning that Palestinians are required to flee.

However, neither hospital attacked on 13 March was in a declared combat zone. British surgeon Tom Potokar, who is working in Gaza, was at the European Hospital when it was struck.

He told Sky News Special Correspondent Alex Crawford that the hospital was hit twice more on 14 May, as workers cleared the rubble from the day before. A video taken by Dr Potokar shows smoke billowing out from a bulldozer on the grounds of the hospital.

That same morning, Israel also launched a series of attacks on the residential neighbourhood of Jabalia, in the north of the Gaza Strip. At least 53 people were killed, according to Gaza's health ministry, which named 52 of the fatalities.

The last two months have been the deadliest period in Gaza since the early weeks of the war, according to Gaza's health ministry, with three in every five fatalities being women, children or elderly people. A two-month long blockade on aid has also compounded Gaza's suffering.

Vital resources like food are starting to run out. "You've got an entire population that is in a crisis mode in terms of food security," said Antoine Renard, director for Palestine at the World Food Programme.

"Worse than that, you've got nearly a quarter of the population that is at risk of famine." A UN-backed report this week said that 93% of people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, described as being in a crisis, emergency or catastrophic situation. And nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished over the next 11 months.

This is all happening as Israeli officials face pressure to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Additional reporting by Michelle Inez Simon, digital investigations producer, and Sky's Gaza team.

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