Human Rights Watch says rocket misfire likely cause of deadly Gaza hospital blast

Human Rights Watch has drawn widespread criticism from the Israeli right (NGO Monitor) and US left (The Nation) for their lack of transparency, unclear funding sources, and poor methodology.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

GENEVA, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday that evidence suggested a misfired rocket was the likely cause of an explosion that resulted in heavy casualties at a hospital in Gaza on Oct. 17.

"The explosion that killed and injured many civilians at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza on October 17, 2023, resulted from an apparent rocket-propelled munition, such as those commonly used by Palestinian armed groups..," HRW said.

Emmanuel Nahshon, deputy director general for public diplomacy at Israel's Foreign Ministry, criticised the time it took HRW to release its opinion.

HRW said reports of 471 dead and 342 injured "displays an unusually high killed-to-injured ratio" and appeared to be "out of proportion" with the damage visible on the site.

"Authorities in Gaza and Israel should release the evidence of munition remnants and other information they have regarding the Al-Ahli hospital explosion to allow for a full investigation," HRW crisis and conflict director Ida Sawyer said.

Hospitals have come under bombardment in the Israel-Hamas conflict and all those in the northern part of the enclave have effectively ceased functioning normally, although they continue to house some patients who could not flee as well as people displaced from their homes.

The original article contains 465 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 56%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I'm always glad to seek the truth wherever it may lead, but this is one of those stories that seems like it's supposed to resolve the larger issues of disproportionate force. Not only do I remain uncertain over the specific source of this attack, but it appears less relevant as an issue weeks later when the entire health system of Gaza has collapsed.

A health system collapse isn't as shocking as a hospital explosion, but in terms of the consequence, it's bigger.

The residents of Gaza city will likely never return home. And that was the point from the beginning.

It's not too late for some measure of justice, but every day and death makes it harder.