“Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say,” The New York Times proclaimed on Tuesday, following an explosion outside a Gaza hospital. Two sitting congresswomen, Illhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, quickly spread the story on X, with Tlaib posting, “Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that.”
The Israel Defense Force or IDF promptly countered the claims, stating Hamas was responsible for the rocket. Throughout the afternoon, IDF provided evidence that the explosion resulted from a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket, including videos of the rocket launch, pictures of the parking lot of the hospital which showed only minor damage from the explosion, inconsistent with IDF weapons, and an intercepted communication between Hamas terrorists discussing the Islamic Jihad misfire.
Since then, “the Pentagon independently concluded the Gaza hospital blast was likely caused by an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that fell short of its target.”
But while The New York Times and other outlets, which originally unquestioningly repeated Hamas’ anti-Israel propaganda, later tweaked their headlines and presented Israel’s denial of responsibility, they continued to report that “hundreds” were killed at the hospital — an unlikely figure given the damage appears limited to a small exterior section of the hospital complex. Still others, such as Tlaib, continued to falsely claim Israel had bombed the hospital.
As The Federalist’s John Daniel Davidson reported Wednesday, the ramifications of repeating Hamas’ propaganda proved significant:
By nightfall in the Middle East, angry mobs assaulted the embassies and
