Israel says its resolve to destroy Hamas unshaken

As leaders lined up to condemn a deadly explosion that fueled concerns a humanitarian crisis may be escalating in Gaza, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear the same event had only hardened his resolve.

After hundreds of Palestinians were killed by the blast at a Gaza City hospital Tuesday night, "The objective is clear and remains unchanged to dismantle Hamas and that is what we are going to do," Ophir Falk, a close aide to Netanyahu, said by phone.

The blast at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital put the Israeli government in tensions with an array of international voices, as Arab leaders canceled the summit that had been planned with US President Joe Biden in Jordan.


"We are trying to get the truth out quickly about what happened at the hospital," said Netanyahu's aide.

Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the US and European Union, said the catastrophe was caused by an Israeli air strike.

The Israeli military released videos and other evidence to show that what damaged the hospital was an errant rocket from Islamic Jihad.

One piece of evidence the Israelis provided to journalists is a recording, which Bloomberg cannot verify, of two Hamas operatives saying both that the explosion had produced local shrapnel and that the strike came from behind the hospital rather than the air.

With Biden in the region, the question is how much Israel might be rethinking its approach.

From the available evidence, the answer is not much. A record 400,000 reservists have been called up, a military operating center has been established next to Gaza, warplanes are making repeated sorties over the territory, and Israel is still ordering people to leave their homes. The goal, all officials say, is to crush Hamas's ability to carry out a repeat of anything like what happened on October 7.

Still, the parade of top officials to Israel Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and soon French President Emmanuel Macron may mean a delay to ground operations.

A top Israeli official said by phone the fact that Israel has been able to show it wasn't at fault on Tuesday night means the event won't become a turning point. It will have a ripple effect, he said, but Arab leaders now know that Israel wasn't responsible.