Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion

On 17 October 2023, an explosion took place in the parking lot of the courtyard of al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City during the Israel–Hamas war, resulting in a large number of displaced Palestinians seeking shelter there being killed or injured.

Reports of the number of deaths vary widely. The Gaza Health Ministry reported 342 injured and 471 killed. The Anglican diocese that manages the hospital reported 200 people killed. US intelligence agencies assessed a death toll between 100 and 300. A report by Human Rights Watch also questioned the Health Ministry's casualty figures. The cause of the explosion is contested. Israel, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada said that their intelligence sources indicate the cause of the explosion was a failed rocket launch from within Gaza by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Hamas and PIJ stated the explosion was caused by an Israeli airstrike.

The consensus from various independent studies of videos, images, and eyewitness reports of the explosion, its aftermath, and the blast area suggests that an errant rocket launch from within Gaza is the most probable cause. While this is not a conclusive finding, it is currently considered the likeliest explanation based on the evidence gathered in investigations conducted by the Associated Press, CNN, The Economist, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. Human Rights Watch stated that the available evidence made an Israeli airstrike "highly unlikely". However, Forensic Architecture cast doubt on the errant rocket launch theory in a visual investigation published on 15 February 2024.