New analyses by the UK-based Forensic Architecture research group and the Earshot audio investigation group have again drawn into question the Israeli military’s account of the mass casualty bombing of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, which killed almost 500 people.

Both groups’ analyses specifically “cast doubt” on the Israeli military claim that the explosion at the hospital was caused by a failed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket fired from the southwest of the hospital, rather than an Israeli air attack as Palestinians have said.

Forensic Architecture analysed photos of the impact crater at the scene, saying that “patterns of radial fragmentation on the southwest side of the impact crater, as well as a shallow channel leading into the crater from the northeast” indicate the projectile likely came from the northeast – “the direction of the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza perimeter”.

Chris Cobb-Smith, an investigator and explosives expert, also agreed the evidence indicated the projectile may have come from the opposite direction claimed by the Israeli military, according to Forensic Architecture.

Meanwhile, a so-called “Doppler Effect analysis” by Earshot, which looks at sound waves related to distance, found the missile likely approached from the northeast, east, or southeast, but not from the west as Israel’s military has claimed.

Earshot’s forensic analysis of an audio recording, purportedly of two Hamas fighters talking about a PIJ rocket released by the Israeli military, also showed that the audio was actually recorded on two separate channels and then edited together.

https://nitter.net/earshot_ngo/status/1715386409782046777

• The IDF claimed the missile was fired by the Islamic Jihad from a south-western location. If this was the case, we would expect the pitch observed by this camera to increase continuously until the missile’s impact. #AlAhli #IDF 4/7

• However, the Doppler Effect that we hear indicates that the missile was closer to the camera before hitting the hospital. This would mean that the missile approached the hospital from north-east, east or south-east

• Asecond video captures the moment of the strike from around 1,500 meters north-west of the hospital. In this video, the missile can be heard moving with a less pronounced Doppler Effect, where the pitch is increasing up to the moment of the explosion.

• This increasing pitch suggests the missile is continuously accelerating towards the camera until impact. The camera’s north-western location suggests an eastern missile trajectory, further decreasing the probability that the missile approached the hospital from south-west.