Washington Post walks back article parroting Hamas accusations against IDF

The Washington Post issued a correction, acknowledging that it failed to separate out Hamas accusations from verified facts after it reported that IDF soldiers killed 31 Gazans seeking aid – based solely on Hamas claims.

By World Israel News Staff

The Washington Post newspaper issued a rare correction on Tuesday, walking back parts of an article published earlier this week that accused the Israeli military of shooting and killing 31 Gazan civilians seeking humanitarian aid on Sunday.

The claim stems from an alleged incident early on Sunday morning at an aid distribution center in the southern Gaza city of Rafah being run by the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Health officials operating under the Hamas regime in Gaza claimed that 31 people were shot and killed by Israeli forces while waiting in line outside the GHF’s Rafah facility – an accusation cited uncritically by the Post’s original version of an article published on Sunday.

“Israeli troops kill over 30 near US aid site in Gaza, health officials say,” the article’s original headline read.

“At least 31 people were killed on Sunday morning in southern Gaza, according to the Strip’s Health Ministry, when Israeli troops opened fire on crowds making their way to collect aid,” the Post wrote.

The story drew sharp criticism, including from US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who issued a statement chastising media outlets on Monday for parroting unverified Hamas claims.

“Reckless and irresponsible reporting by major US news outlets is contributing to the antisemitic climate that has resulted in the murder of two young people at an Israel Embassy event in Washington last month and the attempted murder and terror attack on a group of pro-Israel demonstrators in Colorado on Sunday,” Huckabee said.

Huckabee specifically cited reports, based on claims by Hamas-run agencies, that IDF forces had shot and killed civilians waiting in line for humanitarian aid.

“These reports were FALSE.  Drone video and first-hand accounts clearly showed that there were no injuries, no fatalities, no shooting, no chaos.  It is Hamas that continues to terrorize and intimidate those who seek food aid.”

Aerial footage provided by the IDF and eyewitness accounts from GHF personnel in Rafah and security camera footage released by the GHF disputed the claims of gunfire outside the Rafah distribution facility.

On Tuesday, the Post issued a correction for its story, amending the article and publishing a brief statement acknowledging that the original version failed to live up to the paper’s “standards of fairness.”

“We’ve deleted the post below because it and early versions of the article didn’t meet Post fairness standards,” the Post wrote.

“Early versions of the article on Sunday stated that Israeli troops had killed more than 30 people near a US aid site in Gaza, with the headline attributing the action to ‘health officials.’”

“The article failed to make clear if attributing the deaths to Israel was the position of the Gaza health ministry or a fact verified by The Post. The article and headline were updated on Sunday evening making it clear that there was no consensus about who was responsible for the shootings and that there was a dispute over that question.”

“While statements from Israel that it was unaware of injuries and that an initial inquiry indicated its soldiers didn’t fire at civilians near the site were included in all versions, The Post didn’t give proper weight to Israel’s denial and gave improper certitude about what was known about any Israeli role in the shootings. The early versions fell short of Post standards of fairness and should not have been published in that form.”