When a hospital in the Gaza Strip blew up on Tuesday night, U.S. and international news media uncritically reported Hamas terrorists' claims of an Israeli massacre. The White House and Israel have since refuted that account, citing imagery, intercepts, and open-source information.
Many of the same outlets have obsessed over the spread of "misinformation" in recent years yet created their own by parroting Hamas during a war the terror group savagely provoked with Israel.
The journalistic fiasco was an example of the media's tendency to adopt the Palestinians' narrative about the conflict with Israel, even when that narrative is unsupported by the facts. In this case, there were geopolitical consequences: U.S. Democratic lawmakers and Arab leaders condemned Israel for the bombing, Jordan canceled a planned summit with Biden, and riots broke out in the West Bank and elsewhere in the Muslim world.
Immediately after the hospital blast, which occurred around 7:30 p.m. local time, outlets reported that Israel had bombed the facility, killing hundreds of Palestinians. The reports generally referred to their source—the Hamas terrorist group that governs Gaza—as "Palestinian officials" or "health authorities."
BREAKING: An Israeli air strike killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza City hospital crammed with patients and displaced people, health authorities in the besieged enclave said https://t.co/mEam2SDwFH pic.twitter.com/iIIowjPq5l
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 17, 2023
Breaking News: An Israeli airstrike hit a Gaza hospital on Tuesday, killing at least 200 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which said the number of casualties was expected to rise. https://t.co/f3iHo5n7Y0
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 17, 2023
The Palestinian Health Ministry says 200-300 at minimum were killed in an Israeli bombing of a Gaza hospital. Raf Sanchez reports on the scenes of 'absolute devastation" and the response from the Israeli military saying in part they are 'currently investigating" it. pic.twitter.com/rqnzTBpf8d
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 17, 2023
Hundreds are likely dead after bombing of Gaza's Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, which was sheltering thousands of displaced people, the Palestinian Health Ministry said https://t.co/NsrFUVMGSb pic.twitter.com/cBeyh95iCI
— CNN (@CNN) October 17, 2023
An Israeli airstrike on a Gaza City hospital has killed at least 500 people, the Health Ministry said.
The ministry said the hospital was packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter.https://t.co/KrMILRR44c
— POLITICO (@politico) October 17, 2023
Hundreds of people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, according to the enclave's Ministry of Health. https://t.co/aKT115w5uz
— Axios (@axios) October 17, 2023
BREAKING: The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 500 people killed in an explosion at a hospital that it says was caused by an Israeli airstrike. https://t.co/QXPgbAvtQ6
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 17, 2023
Israel denies responsibility for strike on Gaza hospital, which killed hundreds of people.
BBC's John Donnison: "It's hard to see what else this could be, really, given the size of the explosion, other than an Israeli air strike, or several air strikes" pic.twitter.com/rf0LrZTqBN
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) October 17, 2023
Journalists on X also promoted Hamas's version of events without proof. Then, as evidence began to emerge suggesting that Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Hamas affiliate in Gaza, bombed the hospital, many of those journalists fought to prevent the media coverage from shifting.
A basic critical, technical question of the hospital bombing: To ask whether a typical Hamas rocket is even capable of that much damage?
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) October 17, 2023
Seeing lots of reporting saying "both sides" say the other caused the hospital bombing.
If you're not making it clear that Palestinian rockets haven't historically been able to kill more than one or two at a time, you're not doing this right https://t.co/kEmsmvhC2d
— Adam Elmahrek (@adamelmahrek) October 17, 2023
How U.S. media would cover the hospital bombing if they were treating it like a Hamas attack:
Israeli militants launched a deadly terrorist strike on a hospital in Gaza today, killing hundreds of innocent people, including the sick, elderly and children.
— Adam Elmahrek (@adamelmahrek) October 17, 2023
The experts I’m following online are suggesting it wasn’t an Israeli air strike at the hospital, but this Israeli media headline from a year ago, re earlier (false) Israeli denials, is just 1 reason why so many people were (and many still are) skeptical of Israel’s denials now. pic.twitter.com/1MYZc89RCn
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) October 18, 2023
Washington Post reporter Evan Hill, Post columnist Karen Attiah, and Los Angeles Times reporter Adam Elmahrek last week nitpicked evidence that Hamas gunmen beheaded the Israeli babies they killed in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that sparked the Gaza war.
The media gradually backtracked on blaming Israel for the hospital explosion—albeit without admitting they were wrong in the first place.
It's like the "Homer into the Bushes" meme just with NYT pic.twitter.com/w2lOIwUgTc
— American Prometheus (@daniopp) October 17, 2023
CNN changes headline after it becomes clear that the Palestinian terrorists rocketed their own hospital, killing hundreds, but proceeds to blame Israel with a new spin. pic.twitter.com/iTQbq6T8C2
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) October 17, 2023
Original AP headline: "Hundreds killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza City hospital, Health Ministry says"
Updated headline: "Hamas-run Health Ministry says Israeli airstrike on hospital kills hundreds"
Stay tuned...https://t.co/1ATOEo4AT6https://t.co/jVxnYTQSRu pic.twitter.com/qGAbdY0u0A
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) October 17, 2023
@business headlines yesterday.
2:45 PM: Israeli strike kills hundreds at Gaza hospital
3:30 PM: hundreds killed at hospital
4:30 PM: Hamas and Israel trade blame for hospital strike pic.twitter.com/sPhF9LZekT— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) October 18, 2023
Even some of Israel’s critics on X posted updates.
Placing this here for posterity, and to correct the record. The size of the explosion led me and many others to believe destruction at the hospital was more extensive. Daylight photos now show the hospital wasn’t so badly damaged as to be 'leveled." pic.twitter.com/wJ6j5HIkje
— Adam Elmahrek (@adamelmahrek) October 18, 2023
Provisionally this image does not look consistent with an airstrike. In daylight it’s clear that the hospital building itself was not leveled but rather the cars in the parking lot may have ignited. https://t.co/Tty30VtA8i
— Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) October 18, 2023
Still, the media were not deterred from relying on Hamas for information. On Thursday, outlets continued to cite the terrorist group's improbable claims about the numbers of dead and injured. NBC News on Wednesday broadcast a report from a Gazan journalist who said that "according to the experts," 900 people were killed in the hospital blast, and only "the Israeli occupation" could be responsible for such a large death toll.