Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, responded to the misleading disinformation of the Israeli military spokesperson that claimed that the Israeli massacre at the Anglican Baptist Hospital in Gaza was the result of an Islamic Jihad rocket misfire.

Commenting on the missile that killed over 500 and injures hundreds of civilians at the Anglican Baptist Hospital, most of them women and children, Dr. Barghouti denounced the Israeli spokesperson’s claims as baseless lies.

Firstly, Dr. Barghouti reminds the world that the Israeli military has a consistent track record of lying on many occasions regarding its crimes, changing its official narrative several times in order to avoid culpability. One example is the Israeli army’s constant shifting of its story regarding the killing of Palestinian-American veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. This time, the Israeli side attempted to justify its crime by initially claiming that it conducted a strike on the hospital because Hamas militants were hiding in it. The army then changed the story and said that the hospital bombing was from a Hamas rocket misfire. Then it changed the story again to say that it was an Islamic Jihad rocket. The type of missile that struck the hospital is typical of Israeli warheads, which neither the Islamic Jihad nor any Palestinian faction has. No Palestinian rocket has ever caused this kind of damage, let alone kill 500 people in less than one minute.

Secondly, Dr. Barghouti asserted that Israel, as the criminal and the perpetrator, cannot investigate itself for the crimes it committed. It is unacceptable that the Israeli army would investigate something of which it is accused.

Third, Dr. Barghouti asserted that in the case of Shireen Abu Akleh, the army took week upon week to investigate the killing of one person. In the case of the Anglican Baptist Hospital, it took the army only 5 hours to announce that it had conducted an “investigation” into the killing of 500 people. In any case, they had no access to the site and could not have carried out a satisfactory investigation. If they want an investigation they should allow an international i dependent investigation commission to come which they usually never allow.

Fourth, Dr. Barghouti stated that before the strike took place, Israel had already threatened the hospital with evacuation, warning many other Palestinian hospitals in Gaza including the Anglican Baptist Hospital. The staff refused to leave because it was impossible to transfer critical patients without them dying, and the WHO has said that moving them would be a “death sentence.”

Dr. Barghouti has also emphasized that the medical Palestinian community has already lost 18 of its first aid providers, who were killed in Israeli airstrikes, 23 medical ambulances were also hit by airstrikes and no less than 57 health facilities were completely or partially destroyed by Israeli air strikes according to World Health Organization showing that Israel has no restraint in attacking medical and hospital facilities.

Dr. Barghouti asserted that Israel is now guilty of three war crimes that it is committing against the Palestinian people:

The first war crime is the act of genocide, in which 3,200 people have so far been killed, mostly civilians, women, and no less than 1200 innocent children.

The second crime is the act of ethnic cleansing of the people of Gaza. Already, 1.1 million people in the northern and central Gaza Strip have been ethnically cleansed and clustered in the south, even as Gaza is already the most densely populated area in the world. It is clear that ethnic cleansing is part of Israel’s plan, evident in spokesperson Richard Hecht’s statement that all Gazans should evict their homes and go to Egypt.

The third crime of which Israel is guilty is the crime of collective punishment, which can be seen in the indiscriminate bombing and the cutting off of food, water, electricity, and medical supplies to the 2.3 million people in Gaza.

Dr. Barghouti also called for an immediate ceasefire, and urged the international community, including the U.S., Britain, and France, to support a UN Security Council resolution to enforce it, after which a prisoner exchange can take place.