WEST BANK (Dispatches) – A leading Israeli newspaper has detailed how unverified and inaccurate accounts of the 7 October operation by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas led to the publication of stories that appear to be false.
Some of the details behind these stories, which described actions purportedly by Palestinian fighters, were provided by Zionist regime officials and troops as well as search and rescue volunteers.
However, Haaretz cross-referenced some of these allegations in a report published on Sunday and found that they did not add up.
The Israeli army admitted that mistakes were made by at least one soldier who fed one of the stories.
Zaka, a volunteer search and rescue organization that worked at the scene of the attacks and provided testimonies to the media, also said some of its members may have “misinterpreted” what they saw and that they were not professional pathologists.
One of the main topics allegedly riddled with unconfirmed reporting and misinformation was the death of children and babies, according to Haaretz.
On 7 October, hundreds of Palestinian fighters stormed southern parts of the Israeli-occupied territories, attacking military outposts and bases.
In the absence of an official Israeli list of the dead, Haaretz has produced a list of confirmed fatalities, which includes more than 30 children. The list is not complete, as forensic work continues.
Days after the attack, a story published by Israel’s i24 news channel, which later made front-page headlines around the world, alleged that 40 babies had been beheaded.
As doubt over the story’s veracity began to mount, other unconfirmed versions of alleged atrocities against children and babies began to emerge.
They included an account by Golan Vach, head of the Israeli military search and rescue service, who claimed to have seen the bodies of burned babies.
Last week, an Israeli reporter shared an interview with a soldier who claimed “babies and children were hung on a clothesline in a row”.
According to Haaretz, these allegations were false.
According to Haaretz, a military spokesperson said the soldier who fed the “children hung on a clothesline” story was a reservist who did not speak in an official capacity.
The military denied his claims.
Regarding Vach’s testimonies, the military said he misspoke by saying babies when he meant to say children.
Another false claim was made by Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told U.S. President Joe Biden that Palestinians “bound dozens of children” together, burned them and executed them.
There is no available evidence to suggest groups of children were found dead in the same location that match the description provided by Netanyahu, according to Haaretz.