The New York Times editorial board has admitted that in its initial reporting it relied too heavily on Hamas claims that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds.
In a rare move, the newspaper published an editor’s note on Monday, just days after it posted a headline at the top of its website that read, “Israeli attack killed hundreds in hospital, Palestinians say.”
The headline was placed over an image showing a sobbing mother carrying a child inside a destroyed building – which was not the Al-Ahli Hospital where the explosion occurred.
After Israel denied being behind the Oct. 17 explosion and more information emerged, the Times changed its headline to: “Hundreds Killed in Gaza Hospital Explosion, Palestinians Say.”
“The Times’ initial reports attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the explosion,” the editor’s note said.
The New York Times said in a statement that it had relied “too heavily” on Hamas’ claims when it first reported the explosion at a hospital in Gaza last week. This aerial photo shows people standing in front of destroyed buildings on the grounds of the Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza on October 18
As seen above, the outlet changed its headline several times after the original report
“The Times’ initial reports attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the explosion,” the note said
“However, the early versions of the reporting – and the prominence it gained in headlines, news stories and social media channels – relied too heavily on Hamas claims and did not make it clear that these claims could not be immediately verified.” The Report left readers with a false impression of what was known and how credible the account was.”
The newspaper added: “Given the sensitivity of the news during a widening conflict and the high-profile publicity it received, Times editors should have exercised more care in the initial presentation and been clearer about what information could be verified.”
Who was responsible for the fiery explosion has sparked heated debate and blame between the Israeli government and Palestinian militants, further escalating tensions in their two-week war.
The AP analyzed more than a dozen videos from the moments before, during and after the hospital explosion, as well as satellite images and photos. AP’s analysis shows that the rocket that broke up in mid-air was fired from Palestinian territory and that the explosion at the hospital was most likely caused by part of the rocket falling to the ground.
While the Biden administration and several news outlets such as CNN and the Associated Press have concluded that the explosion came from Hamas, the NYT still reports that the origin of the rocket remains unclear.
The Times noted that Hamas officials rejected their request to visit the hospital site, with one senior official claiming that “the rocket dissolved like salt in water.”
The newspaper also said that Israel rejected requests to provide logs of its military activities on the day of the explosion.
Meanwhile, US intelligence has determined that Israel is “probably not” responsible for Tuesday’s explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital.
Officials also estimate that between 100 and 300 people were likely killed in the blast, setting off a toxic blame game between Israel, Hamas and their allies.
The bodies of Palestinians killed in an explosion at Ahli Arab Hospital are gathered in the front yard of Al-Shifa Hospital on Tuesday
Israel also released a radar map of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s rocket attacks and a video of the moment a rocket said to be hurtling toward Israel from Gaza appears to have a problem and suddenly changes course before burning out
“Israel probably did not bomb Gaza hospital: We believe Israel was not responsible for an explosion that killed hundreds of civilians yesterday.” [17 October] at Al-Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip,” said the assessment obtained by CNN.
“Our assessment is based on available reports, including intelligence information, missile activity and open source videos and images of the incident,” it said.
The intelligence services “only observed slight structural damage to the hospital,” there was no visible damage to the main hospital building and no impact craters were created, the assessment said.
“We see only minor damage to the roofs of two buildings near the main hospital building, but both buildings remained intact,” the assessment said.
U.S. intelligence released its first assessment Wednesday that Israel was not responsible after President Joe Biden publicly stated while in Israel that the attack appeared to be “the result of a misguided rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza.” “.
A European secret service told the AFP news agency: “There were not 200 or even 500 dead, more likely it was between 10 and 50.”
The Israel Defense Forces shared a series of evidence that they believe shows that a misfiring rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – an independent jihadist group – was behind the explosion.
The evidence presented by the IDF included an audio clip of suspected Hamas terrorists confirming that the rocket was from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a video showing the rocket in question misfiring over Gaza, and bird’s-eye images of the blast site Features were not consistent According to an IDF spokesman, it was an Israeli airstrike.
Meanwhile, Israel’s enemies – Hamas, PIJ, Hezbollah and Iran – insist that the IDF was behind the devastation and vow revenge. Anger erupted across the Muslim world, with demonstrators pouring into the streets in cities from Tripoli to Tehran to demonstrate against Israel.
The Jordanian foreign minister said: “In this part of the world, no one believes (Israel’s) narrative… the only way for people to have a different narrative would be if there was an independent international investigation with impeccable evidence that it was not Israel. “
However, several experts and analysts commenting on the issue appear to largely agree with Israel’s assessment that a misfiring rocket fired from Gaza caused the tragedy. However, many cautioned that it is still too early to say for sure.