Throughout the day Reuters reported:
Israeli fire hit a house in the Gaza Strip on Monday while a family was eating breakfast, killing six Palestinians, including four children and their mother, residents and medical officials said.
Elder of Ziyon and Israelly Cool! followed the story and did a little research over the course of the day and showed that there was some doubt that it was “Israeli fire” that hit the house.
Israelly Cool!:
What I am not seeing in the mainstream media is this version reported in the Jerusalem Post (hat tip: Shy Guy):The Palestinian mother and her four children who were killed Monday during IDF ops in Beit Hanun were not hit by a tank shell but rather were killed when ammunition carried by gunmen exploded, Army Radio quoted an IDF source as saying.
After reading the IDF explanation as well as the PCHR preliminary investigation into the deaths of the mother and four daughters this morning, I am convinced that the IDF version is correct – the IDF shot a missile at two terrorists who were outside the Abu Meatak home, and the explosives that at least one was carrying exploded, killing most of the family.
I’d add that Elder of Ziyon did not just rely on the IDF report.
The NY Times managed to acknowledge the Israeli version of the deaths.
The Israelis said they shot a missile from the air that hit two armed men who were carrying heavy explosives, which blew apart the family’s house behind them. Palestinian witnesses said they believed an Israeli tank shell or a missile from a drone flew into the small house, killing the four as they were eating breakfast. Two other children from the same family were badly wounded and hospitalized.
The Washington Post does too:
Israeli military officials said the blast was caused by explosives that the two gunmen were carrying in backpacks. But Gazan medical officials said the Israeli fire had directly struck the one-story, corrugated metal home of the Abu Meiteg family as the children and their mother began to eat breakfast.The children ranged in age from 1 1/2 to 5. The blast also killed a teenager passing by the home, and the Israeli military said he may have been one of the targeted gunmen.
The Post also takes care to acknowledge the sixth death. (Israel claimed to have killed the two gunmen, so the death toll should be seven not six. Or was the teenager double counted.)
The Post also gives some context:
The attack took place in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, a frequent launching area for rockets targeting southern Israel. The Israeli military said 18 rockets and more than a dozen mortar shells were fired from Gaza on Monday, adding to a tally that stands at more than 1,600 for the year. One Israeli home was damaged by the attacks, but they caused no serious injuries.
But Reuters is less a news agency than a mouthpiece for Hamas.
The game is up so what does Reuters report?
Palestinians carry the bodies of four children and their mother during their funeral in the northern Gaza Strip April 28, 2008.
That’s the complete report. Instead of reporting that there was any doubt about the circumstances surrounding their deaths, Reuters doesn’t leave us with any hints that their earlier assertion was mistaken or incomplete.
UPDATE: Crossing the Rubicon points out that Andrew Sullivan is doing all he can to promote Hamas without context too. Utterly irresponsible.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
