In Rafah, media show they learned nothing from last year’s hospital-bombing hoax

Journalists appear to have learned nothing from the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital debacle last year.

In that incident, they reported the destruction of a hospital that definitely had not been destroyed. They accused Israeli forces of bombing a hospital, when in fact it appears that a Palestinian terrorist group’s rockets had merely exploded nearby. The story was too good to check — as it often is when activists disguised as journalists really want something to be true.

Headlines were abuzz last week with reports that Israel had directly bombed a tent camp in Rafah, killing at least 45 civilians. One problem with this news cycle is that, like the ones that preceded it that ended up being false, it is dependent largely upon the say-so of Hamas officials. Remember: we’ve been fooled before by news reports of this exact nature. There is a good chance the headlines don’t tell the whole story, if they tell a true story at all. 

The wisest course of action would be to handle this latest incident carefully and wait for conclusive evidence. Unfortunately, patience does not appear to be a popular virtue among journalists.

“Israel pushes deeper into Rafah after deadly strike at camp for displaced Gazans,” National Public Radio reported.

Said the New York Times: “An Israeli airstrike on a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, killed at least 45 people on Sunday night and wounded 249, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Monday.”

“Biden admin: Israel airstrike on Rafah tent camp doesn’t cross red line,” read a headline published by MSNBC.

Condemnation from political leaders, activists and the international community followed soon thereafter, prompting statements from Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, who said, “Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night there was a tragic mishap.”

He added, “We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy.”  

Note that Netanyahu did not place sole responsibility on Israeli forces. He also did not confirm that Israel bombed the tent camp directly. There may be a reason for this beyond a simple attempt to deny culpability and spare Israel all the negative press and external pressure that comes with it. 

It may yet be that Israel did not bomb those civilians directly. It may be that, as Israel has suggested, the explosion and fire that killed those civilians were caused by an arms cache that Hamas stashed among the civilian centers, as is its custom.

There is no dispute that Israel bombed a bunker in Rafah, killing two senior Hamas terrorists. There’s no dispute that civilians died following the airstrike. What is in dispute is whether Israel bombed those civilians directly, either intentionally or accidentally, or whether they were killed by a secondary explosion and fire caused by a Hamas munitions dump. We do not know, and either theory is plausible. 

Yet, despite its plausibility, the secondary explosion theory did not merit a single mention in any the aforementioned news reports, even after Israel had offered it as a possible explanation for the carnage. This is indefensible, especially considering what happened last year with the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital hoax.

It’s indefensible that places such as the Telegraph published the following headline without even bothering to confirm it: “Israel admits bombing Rafah camp as civilians ‘burnt alive’ in melting tents.”

A couple of publications, including the Washington Post — whose initial reporting described the incident as a “deadly Israeli strike on civilians” — have since inspected the available forensic evidence and drawn some noteworthy conclusions. For one thing, Israel did indeed use a small munition in this bombing, “often selected specifically to minimize the chance of harm to civilians or civilian objects.”

Additional analysis has determined that the munitions used last weekend were U.S.-manufactured, while a separate analysis of raw footage of the incident appears to back the munitions dump theory. It’s possible the initial airstrike unintentionally ignited a hidden, secret munitions cache, which then caused a chain reaction that reached the tent camp.

This is only a theory, a possibility. It’s also Israel’s position, which means it requires an additional layer of scrutiny. Any claim proffered by a country at war requires extra scrutiny, especially when said claim is self-exonerating. 

It’s possible Israel killed those people directly with an airstrike and is lying to cover its tracks. It’s also possible that Hamas stashed munitions around civilian safe zones. There is much that we don’t know. And that we don’t know precisely what happened last weekend in Rafah means that much of what passed for reporting last week, including the reports that insinuated or stated outright that Israel had bombed civilians directly, was deeply irresponsible.

The New York Times, NPR — neither of them attempted to corroborate the Hamas-controlled health ministry’s version of events. They presented Gaza’s claims at face value, condemning Israel in the court of public opinion without bothering to check first whether there was any truth to it.

Fool us once, as they did with Al-Ahli Arab Hospital? Shame on them.

But fool us twice?

Becket Adams is a writer in Washington and program director for the National Journalism Center.