U.S. intelligence officials say they have “high confidence” that last week’s deadly blast at a Gaza hospital was caused by a failed rocket launch by Palestinian militants, not an Israeli strike.

In a briefing to reporters on Tuesday, the intelligence officials said they based their assessment on analysis of videos of the projectile’s flight, as well as an examination of the blast’s effects on the hospital and surrounding area. They were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Analysis of videos shot from four locations, including from two cameras that captured the projectile’s flight, showed the rocket was launched from within the Gaza Strip and traveled northeast, according to one of the officials. About 10 seconds after the launch, analysts assess the motor combustion became “unstable,” one of the officials said.

“We can tell that in part based on the fluctuating intensity of the rocket plume about five seconds after that there’s a flash in the video,” said the official.

Five seconds later, one object hit the ground, followed about two seconds later by a second. Analysts believe the first object was likely the motor from the rocket, and the second was the warhead.

“There was a catastrophic motor failure that likely occurred, which separated the motor and the warhead. The warhead landed in the hospital compound and that was the second explosion and a much bigger one,” said the official.

Analysts also based their assessment on the effects of the blast. The damage at the site is consistent with what officials would expect to see from a rocket, not the “large craters and broader blast effects” from an air-dropped munition or artillery round, the official said, adding that the hospital only sustained “light structural damage.”

“There was no observable damage to the main hospital building, no large impact craters, only light damage to the roots of the two structures near the main hospital building and both of them remained intact,” said the official. “All of this is inconsistent with our assessment of what the damage would look like if this was an Israeli munition.”

The officials also said they assessed with “low confidence” that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was responsible for launching the rocket, backing up statements made by the Israeli Defense Forces. The assessment is based on audio of Hamas militants discussing who is responsible for the launch, which was provided by Israeli officials and “carefully vetted,” said the official. However, officials can’t confirm who the speakers are or that what they are discussing took place.

Officials also have not seen images or video of debris that would have come from Israeli munitions, the official said.

“If an Israeli munition was responsible for this blast, we would expect that Palestinian militants would be very directly and clearly showing what they thought was an Israeli munitions,” said the official.

The initial U.S. assessment — that the blast was not caused by the Israeli Defense Forces by the first night — was based on initial signals intelligence, according to a second senior intelligence official.

“Then over the course of the next several days of when we got imagery of it, when we got some additional reporting and the analysts had time to sift through the data and do some analysis of it, I think our views of — our confidence level evolved over the next three four five days,” the senior official said.

The Senate voted 98-0 to approve President Biden’s nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday, ending a span of nearly 19 months in which the agency was without a Senate-confirmed chief.

Michael Whitaker is a former deputy FAA administrator and most recently served as chief operating officer of a Hyundai affiliate that is developing an air taxi.

Whitaker will take over an agency that faces many challenges, including a surge in close calls between planes at major airports, a shortage of air traffic controllers, and aging technology that resulted in a brief nationwide halt in flights in January.

Whitaker was Biden’s second choice for the job. The nomination of Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington languished for months, then failed to get out of the Commerce Committee because of opposition from Republicans and independent Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Visa profits grow on digital economy

Payments processing giant Visa Inc. posted an 18% rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter profits Tuesday, as the company continues to benefit from the growing use of credit and debit cards globally.

The San Francisco-based company said it earned $4.82 billion in the quarter, or $2.33 a share after one-time adjustments. That’s compared to a profit of $4.09 billion, or $1.93 a share, in the same period a year ago. Visa beat analysts’ forecasts, according to FactSet.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Visa has benefitted from a fundamental change in consumer behavior that has led to the broad acceptance of digital payments in places where traditionally cash was king, as well as from the growth in online shopping.

A pair of Massachusetts elected officials say they didn’t break the campaign finance laws but have nevertheless agreed to pay hundreds of thousands to end an inquiry into activities surrounding their 2020 campaigns and donations.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell announced she has reached a settlement with the campaigns of Worcester state Sen. Ryan Fattman and his wife, Worcester County Register of Probate Stephanie Fattman, who have agreed to pay almost $200,000 over allegations the senator’s campaign funneled money through the state party that was then used to further his wife’s 2020 campaign.

The campaigns of the senate Republican and his wife will pay the “largest amounts ever paid by candidate committees to the Commonwealth to settle campaign finance allegations,” according to the Attorney General’s office.

“Enforcing our campaign finance laws, and holding those who violate them accountable, are critical functions of our office,” Campbell said Tuesday along with the settlement announcement. “We will continue to hold accountable those who misuse positions of power, break the law and undermine the public’s trust.”

According to Campbell, the settlement comes following an investigation by the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, which showed that Fattman’s senatorial campaign committee sent more than $160,000 worth of contributions to the Republican State Committee and the Sutton Republican Town Committee. That money was then used to fund the production and distribution of 550,000 political mailers pushing for Register Fattman’s election, according to the AG’s office.

Fattman would go on to win her race against Democrat John Dolan 212,264 votes to 178,805.

State law sets a limit of $100 for campaign contributions made by a campaign committee. The cost of more than half-a-million mailers clearly exceeds that, according to officials.

“OCPF will continue its role in educating and informing candidates of their duties and responsibilities under the campaign finance law,” OCPF Director William Campbell said in a statement. “Where apparent violations exist, the agency will take measures to ensure the public’s interest in accurate and timely disclosure of campaign finance activity.”

The Register’s campaign will pay the Bay State $137,000 — $29,000 immediately and $27,000 each following year until 2027 — and the Senator’s campaign $55,000, according to Campbell’s office. Donald Fattman, former Treasurer of the Ryan Fattman Committee, agreed to pay $10,000. The Sutton Republican Town Committee agreed that Chairman Anthony Fattman, the state senator’s brother, would resign and accept prohibition from future chairmanships and to pay over $5,000.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Fattman have also agreed to “retain professional compliance agents” to assist future campaigns with following the state’s campaign finance rules.

According to the settlement, the Fattmans’ campaigns deny any wrongdoing and “make no admission of liability” but wish to “fully and finally resolve these claims to avoid the expense and uncertainty of litigation.” The settlement indicates both politicians believe they were acting within the law.

“By entering into this agreement, they do not admit they have violated any law or other legal obligation,” the settlement reads, in part.

The state Republican party, according to Campbell’s office, agreed to pay $15,000 over the alleged violations earlier this month.

Upon taking office in January, current MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale warned party membership there would be a number of unusual campaign finance situations to unravel from the previous chairman’s tenure.

When the investigation into Fattman’s finances was first announced in 2021, then party Chairman Jim Lyons called the investigation a “cowardly” act by outgoing Campaign and Political Finance Director Michael Sullivan.

“This is a blatant political hit job,” Lyons said then.

Fattman did not return a request for comment on the settlement.

Herald wire service contributed.

A Boston Police captain has been suspended for three days after an internal investigation found violations connected to his conduct in two protests and the “physical contact” he made with a man who had alleged excessive force.

A department investigation determined that Capt. John Danilecki neglected his duty, used poor judgment and failed to complete required police reports for these incidents, but did not use improper force, as alleged in at least one case.

“The commissioner has signed off on the findings and the discipline of a three-day suspension has been imposed,” Boston Police spokesperson Mariellen Burns told the Herald in a Tuesday email.

The BPD Internal Affairs Division sustained a neglect of duty violation, for failing to complete a required incident report, but dismissed five other counts including a use of non-lethal force violation reported by Dorchester resident David Nave in 2019.

Nave said Danilecki grabbed and pulled him down to the ground, and pinned him there with a knee to his chest while he was speaking with the neighborhood “kids” who had allegedly stolen his son’s phone, according to federal court documents.

Internal Affairs did not sustain another violation charging Danilecki with untruthfulness in his police report, nor did it find that he violated department rules around respectful treatment and unreasonable judgment.

Danilecki stated in a police report at the time that Nave was acting aggressively, and he had put him on the ground for his own safety, according to prior media reports. His required reporting on the incident was incomplete, however, resulting in the sustained violation.

“Captain Danilecki failed to complete a required department report or a FIOE report after activating himself in a fight he had observed and making physical contact with the complainant,” the Internal Affairs violation states.

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The internal investigation also sustained two other violations connected to a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest and a 2019 “Straight Pride Parade.” Danilecki was reported to have torn up a protestor’s sign during the 2020 demonstration and released pepper spray on people protesting the parade a year earlier.

Video also depicts Danilecki pushing and grabbing protesters, and attempting to rip the mask off of one, at the Straight Pride Parade, according to footage shared as part of a prior Boston Globe report.

“During a protest Captain Danilecki used poor judgment when he seized and destroyed an item without inspecting its evidentiary value,” the violation states, referring to the 2020 incident. “The item was a cardboard sign belonging to one of the demonstrators and not contraband as he thought.”

For the earlier case, Danilecki “failed to complete a required FIOE report when he used force while having an interaction with the complainant who was attending the Straight Pride Parade,” the violation states.