There’s a Palestinian video going around today purporting to show an IDF attack on a bridge in Gaza full of cars trying to evacuate from the north:
The moment when the Israeli warplanes bombed the convoy of civilians whist freely from the north to the south of Gaza, yesterday.
The Israeli occupation forces deceived the citizens of Gaza after warning them to leave their homes and then attacking them on the roads. 13.10.23 pic.twitter.com/RNZrr1eCcu
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) October 14, 2023
Except the ‘IDF attack’ part is complete bunk. Here’s someone explaining what really happened:
Since everyone is trying to use the Salah Al Deen Gaza Wadi bridge explosion tweet to cudgel each other with things I did not say, even using it to deny another strike 5 miles away, I am going to remake the entire thread here, super fucking clearly.
Here is the explosion. pic.twitter.com/BEcw0EXfIT
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 14, 2023
Note when the explosion happens, there is a significant fireball. This is highly inconsistent with conventional explosives delivered by air.
This is far more consistent with a gas canister explosion. pic.twitter.com/XcMOHdinhv
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 14, 2023
Now watch closer. You can see an exploding gas canister rocket out of the left side of the vehicle. pic.twitter.com/xCyoJ98dg4
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 14, 2023
There are three options here-
1. Hamas may have just hit an evacuation route from northern Gaza with a VBIED, framing it as an Israeli air strike. This would be in line with previous actions and intentions.
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 14, 2023
2. Israeli air strike. Possible, but more unlikely, the explosion was primarily from gas canister(s) in the vehicle.
3. Random accident. Also a possibility, but it does take a bit of work to make an explosion that big without doing something very wrong.
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 14, 2023
Another account points out that it looks like it came from a white van:
explosion looks like it came from the white van pic.twitter.com/nSTjTTX7WR
— Nathan J Hunt (@ISNJH) October 14, 2023