Hamas terrorists holed up in tunnels under Rafah. (X)
UK-based media outlet retracts article published in English and Arabic which referred to a group of 200 Hamas terrorists holed up in tunnels underneath Rafah as “civilians.”
By World Israel News Staff
An international news agency scrapped an article published earlier this week after it came under fire for erroneously describing armed Hamas terrorists trapped in a tunnel network as “civilians.”
On Monday, the London-based Reuters agency published a story in English and Arabic in which it cited a senior Turkish official who claimed that Ankara is working to secure safe passage for 200 Hamas gunmen holed up in the group’s underground network in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.
However, the story referred to the terrorists as “civilians,” and also carried this mistake in the headline.
“Turkey seeks safe passage for 200 civilians trapped in Gaza tunnels, official says,” the Reuters headline read.
Hamas itself has confirmed that the Gazans trapped in Rafah, which is located on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line, are combatants affiliated with the Islamist group.
“The occupation bears full responsibility for the clashes with our fighters in Rafah, who are defending themselves within an area under its control,” Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday.
The terror group added that the trapped gunmen would not surrender their weapons.
“Let the enemy know that the principle of surrender and submission to the enemy does not exist in the al-Qassam Brigades’ lexicon.”
Reuters reported on the al-Qassam Brigades’ comments Sunday, accurately describing the 200 trapped Gazans as “Hamas fighters.”
However, the article published a day later erroneously referred to the terrorists as “civilians” – both in the headline and in the body of the text.
Shortly after the publication of the article on Monday, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) filed a complaint with Reuters over the glaring mistake.
Later that day, Reuters removed the article in both English and Arabic.
“The Nov. 10 story headlined ‘Turkey seeks safe passage for 200 civilians trapped in Gaza tunnels, official says’ is withdrawn after post-publication review. A replacement story will be issued later,” Reuters wrote.
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