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The Washington Post on Thursday added a lengthy correction to a month-old news story, admitting that it had “misrepresented” some aspects of its story about the separation of Palestinian mothers from their babies in the Israel-Hamas war.
The November 17 article, titled “Israel's war with Hamas separates Palestinian babies from their mothers,” described how Israel gave special permission to mothers with high-risk pregnancies from Gaza to travel to Israel to seek potentially life-saving treatment for themselves and their babies to obtain . The previous version of the story said Israeli regulations forced all mothers to return to Gaza to renew their permits if their newborns remained in the hospital for more than a few weeks.
A correction published on December 28 clarified that it was actually hospital officials who had passed on this false information to two Palestinian mothers.
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“An earlier version of this article about Palestinian mothers in Gaza separated from their newborns misrepresented some aspects of Israel's permit rules, which allowed some Palestinian women to travel out of Gaza before October 7 Hospitals in the West Bank and Israel,” the Post editor’s note said.
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ISRAEL – NOVEMBER 15: Four-month-old baby named Saaidah from Gaza in an incubator at a hospital in Israel, Wednesday, November 15, 2023. Doctors at the hospital were recently able to reach her family, who were displaced to the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The note continued: “The article incorrectly stated that all Palestinian mothers who had received permits to leave Gaza on humanitarian grounds had to return to Gaza to reapply after their permits expired. In fact, it was not always necessary for mothers to return to Gaza. The article has been updated to clarify that it was hospital officials who told two Palestinian mothers they had to return to Gaza to apply for new permits.
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The updated article said: “While Israeli and Palestinian authorities allow an extension of residence permits for mothers who do not want to return to Gaza,” it quoted patient advocates who said that obtaining this permit can sometimes be difficult.
The Post editor's statement also admitted that it had failed to ask Israeli officials for comment on the article, which “did not meet” its “standards of fairness.”
“Furthermore, the Post failed to ask Israeli officials for comment on this article, an omission that falls short of the Post’s standards of fairness,” the newspaper said.
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“The article has been updated with a statement from an Israeli authority that implements policies in Gaza and the West Bank, which said the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed 1,200 Israelis was the main reason Mothers and babies remain separated. The article has “It has also been updated to describe the status of travel permits from Gaza after October 7,” the statement said.
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A nurse cares for premature Palestinian babies who were transferred from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to the hospital in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
An anonymous Israeli spokesman told the newspaper that Israel could attempt to return these infants to their mothers in Gaza via another border crossing if their “medical conditions permit.”
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The editor's note also said that the weight of one of the newborns in the story was misstated.
This is not the first time the newspaper's coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas has come under scrutiny.
In October, the newspaper came under fire for downplaying comments from Hamas terrorist supporters as “criticism of Israel.”
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The NEW YORK TIMES faced intense scrutiny over its coverage of Israel and Hamas in 2023
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That same month, The Post quietly edited the caption of a photo after it was criticized by conservatives. The caption initially described Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas as being “held” by the terrorists. The caption was quickly changed to say they were “taken hostage.”
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When reached for comment, The Washington Post simply referred Fox News Digital to the Dec. 28 editor's note.