Arabic calendar or Hamas guard sheet at Al-Rantisi hospital in Gaza?

[Agent K]

Or a Hamas calendar?

The IDF spokesman pointed to a sheet on the wall at Al-Rantisi hospital and said, "This is a guardian list where every terrorist writes his name, and every terrorist has his own shift sheet, guarding the people that were here."
The sheet was a calendar with days of the week handwritten in Arabic. It started on October 7 and was titled "Al Aqsa flood," the name of the October 7 attack by Hamas.
The IDF spokesman was mocked for mistaking days of the week for terrorist names, which would be a very amateur mistake for the IDF which has many Arabic speakers, but he said that "every terrorist has his own shift sheet," in which case every terrorist would have his own calendar and sign his name somewhere. So the question I haven't seen anyone answer is what's written in the center of the calendar. Is it a signature? I can make out some numbers like a 7 on top and a 10 on the bottom. Is it another reference to October 7?

Here's a debunking attempt by France24.
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-show...names-but-it-s-the-days-of-the-week-in-arabic
Edit: They zing the IDF spokesman for "signaling from left to right when he was showing the paper, but Arabic is in fact read and written from right to left." Like Hebrew.

 

[Mendel]

My problem is that it's not clear that there were actually hostages in that location.
It's obvious that this is not a guard schedule.
If "every terrorist has their own sheet", then why? Since this particular person has no days off, and no working hours indicated that would differ, what would be the need for those sheets?

My first guess would be that they cross off each day when the sanitary facilities get cleaned.
Obviously there's no evidence that this what the calendar is for. But that goes equally for the IDF's guess.

 

[deirdre]

The IDF spokesman pointed to a sheet on the wall at Al-Rantisi hospital and said, "This is a guardian list where every terrorist writes his name, and every terrorist has his own sheet, guarding the people that were here."

you should provide the source, so people can see context

Source: https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1724169252054188276

 

[deirdre]

Article:

An IDF spokespersonsaid in response: "In the basement of Rantisi Hospital was found a table used by Hamas terrorists under the heading 'Al-Aqsa Storm System 7/10/23.' The table was found alongside other findings indicating that Hamas terrorists held Israeli abductees on the floor. In the video that was distributed, there was an error in translating part of the table. Already in the IDF Spokesperson's statement, it is explicitly stated that this is a table counting days. Any attempt to claim otherwise is an attempt to deflect from the truth."

It should be noted that although Hagari's statement did not include a reference to the names of the guards, his video, which was filmed in Gaza, was sent in advance to the Israeli and foreign media, and it was broadcast and uploaded to the networks along with the problematic footage. Subsequently, the IDF sent a revised video, in which the specific section on the "guard page" was deleted. The same video wasposted on the IDF's website and YouTube, but on Israel's official Twitter page, Operated by the Foreign Ministry and Hagari, the video has not been replaced, and it continues to be fertile ground for Israel-haters, as of this writing.

Source: https://www.mako.co.il/news-money/tech12/Article-0ad3234746dcb81027.htm?sCh=31750a2610f26110&pId=173113802

Article:

In response, the IDF told NBC News that it had issued a "prompt correction" to Hagari's calendar comment, and that any "suggestions that the IDF is manipulating the media are incorrect."

"We are taking all necessary precautions to report as much information as we can," it said in a statement, "whilst maintaining the safety of our troops and retaining our operational readiness."

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/information-missteps-led-questions-israels-credibility-rcna125723

 

[Agent K]

My problem is that it's not clear that there were actually hostages in that location.
It's obvious that this is not a guard schedule.
If "every terrorist has their own sheet", then why? Since this particular person has no days off, and no working hours indicated that would differ, what would be the need for those sheets?

My first guess would be that they cross off each day when the sanitary facilities get cleaned.
Obviously there's no evidence that this what the calendar is for. But that goes equally for the IDF's guess.

OK, I misheard a lower quality audio. The spokesman said "every terrorist has his own shift" not sheet.
The calendar is still suspicious that it's titled "2023/10/7 Al Aqsa flood" on top and starts on October 7, and the IDF found CCTV footage of hostages being taken to Al-Shifa hospital on that day.

 

[MapperGuy]

Since this is in Arabic and I suspect virtually nobody here reads Arabic this is a pointless discussion for Metabunk.

 

[Mendel]

The calendar is still suspicious that it's titled "2023/10/7 Al Aqsa flood" on top and starts on October 7, and the IDF found CCTV footage of hostages being taken to Al-Shifa hospital on that day.

Or they moved a group of fighters into the shelter on that date.

There's just not enough evidence to say either way, and the claim that the calendar is evidence is false. (If it had been written in Hebrew, that would be evidence.)

The CCTV footage is some evidence. The calendar is not.

 

[Agent K]

Or they moved a group of fighters into the shelter on that date.

There's just not enough evidence to say either way, and the claim that the calendar is evidence is false. (If it had been written in Hebrew, that would be evidence.)

The CCTV footage is some evidence. The calendar is not.

You mean the calendar is not evidence of hostages but of Hamas fighters.

 

[Mendel]

You mean the calendar is not evidence of hostages but of Hamas fighters.

Yes.
Or Hamas medics.

I heard that Israel actually built the bomb shelter below the hospital way back when, and that there's a bunker operating room where wounded Hamas fighters get patched up. Which would still make this a bona fide protected hospital. Other sources say Hamas had a command post there, and that would be a war crime (using civilians as shields).

It's just very hard to debunk information from a war zone, because truth is always the first casualty in war.

 

[Agent K]

Yes.
Or Hamas medics.

I heard that Israel actually built the bomb shelter below the hospital way back when, and that there's a bunker operating room where wounded Hamas fighters get patched up. Which would still make this a bona fide protected hospital. Other sources say Hamas had a command post there, and that would be a war crime (using civilians as shields).

It's just very hard to debunk information from a war zone, because truth is always the first casualty in war.

That's the Al-Shifa hospital. Israel renovated it in the 80's and expanded it underground to make space, and apparently after Hamas took over in 2005 it constructed its own signature narrow arched tunnels there, which is what the IDF uncovered.