Verifying conflicting accounts of Iran’s strike on an Israeli hospital

Conflicting narratives have emerged after an Iranian missile struck an Israeli hospital on Thursday, with Tehran claiming it was targeting military facilities while the Israeli defence minister described the attack as a “war crime.”

Israel’s Health Ministry said 71 people were wounded after missiles struck the Soroka hospital. A spokesperson for the medical facility said there had been no serious casualties as the part of the hospital that was hit directly had already been evacuated.

Tehran’s top diplomat has claimed that the strike “eliminated” two Israeli military targets.

“Our powerful Armed Forces accurately eliminated an Israeli Military Command, Control & Intelligence HQ and another vital target,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on X, adding that the blast “caused superficial damage to a small section” of the hospital.

Euronews’ fact-checking team, Euroverify, has analysed videos from the site of the strike and consulted military experts to verify the plausibility of these claims. 

Video footage that we’ve verified shows significant destruction to buildings within the hospital complex, as well as medical workers running to evacuate from the site.

Other photographic evidence analysed by our team suggest hospital buildings were directly impacted by missiles.

We have also geo-located a video that shows the moment the missile hit a hospital building to the north of the Soroka complex, near David Ben Gurion street.

This evidence contradicts the Iranian foreign minister’s claims that damage to the site was “superficial” and caused by a “blast wave” from a nearby strike.

Hospitals have special protection under the Geneva Convention, but lose that protection if used to commit “acts harmful to the enemy”, such as launching an attack or storing weapons.

Israel has consistently targeted hospitals in its war in Gaza, claiming they are being used by Hamas militants.

No evidence has yet emerged to suggest the Soroka hospital site was being used by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Dr. Ron Schleifer, an Israeli expert on information warfare, told Euroverify that the IDF does not use hospitals and other public facilities to “hide behind the civilian population.”

“A hospital is clearly not a legitimate target, at least in the eyes of the West,” Dr Schleifer said, adding that “Israel does not need to hide military installations under hospitals.”

No evidence that targets other than hospital were hit

Yet, Iran has not alleged the hospital itself was being used for warring purposes, but rather that its missile was targeting two military targets in the hospital’s vicinity: a “command and intelligence (IDF C4i) headquarters” and an “army intelligence campus in the Gav-Yam Technology Park.”

IDF C4i is the Israeli military’s elite technological unit, and was described by the IDF in 2021 as being “responsible for all the contacts, computers and communications of IDF forces on the battlefield.”

The exact site of its headquarters is classified information and cannot be verified.

The second site targeted according to Iran was the IDF technology campus at the Gav-Yam Technology park. That campus is located near the site of the strike, around 1.5km to the north-east.

No verified videos have emerged to suggest the IDF campus was struck in the Thursday strike. In fact, verified videos only show impact on the hospital complex itself.

This would suggest that if Iran was aiming at military targets, it missed. Two OSINT experts told Euroverify that their analysis of Iranian strikes on Israel over the past days suggests that Iran lacks precision in hitting its targets.

Early on Friday morning, Israeli public media Kan reported that a fresh attack on Beersheba “targeted a residential neighbourhood,” with inital reports suggesting the site of the Gav-Yam Negev park was impacted.

Fake videos and maps sow confusion on social media

In his post on X, the Iranian foreign minister shared a map that purports to show two Israeli military targets right next to the Soroka hospital.

But the map is fake. The street names and topography do not correspond to the area, and major sites, including the Gav-Yam Negev technology park, are misspelt.

X users have also misleadingly claimed that a video of an Iranian strike hitting the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv on Thursday shows an impact on the Gav-Yam Negev park.

We’ve verified that the videos in question show a strike on the Ramat Gan neighbourhood in Tel Aviv, and not in the vicinity of the Soroka hospital as the user claims.

Our journalists are continuing to verify footage emerging from the affected area and will update this story with the latest developments.