News Desk - The Cradle
Major news organizations used vague headlines to downplay Israel's role in killing at least 100 Palestinians desperate to receive food from a humanitarian aid convoy in Gaza Thursday
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Prominent western media outlets used vague headlines that either omitted that Israel opened fire on crowds of starving Palestinians gathered to receive sacks of flower or suggested most of the deaths resulted from a stampede, without acknowledging that the Israeli gunfire itself caused the panic.
US news website Axios used a headline stating, “Dozens of Palestinians killed in incident around Gaza aid convoy.”
Despite the headline, Axios acknowledged that “The IDF official said Israeli forces fired on dozens of Palestinian civilians,” and that “police who were escorting aid trucks walked off the job earlier this month after being targeted by Israel,” creating a security vacuum and chaos each time an aid convoy arrived to distribute food.
Reuters omitted mention of any Israeli role in its headline, stating, “More than 100 killed while seeking aid in Gaza, overall death toll passes 30,000.”
Reuters then cited an Israeli official who acknowledged that troops “opened fire, killing an unknown number in a ‘limited response.’”
After citing the Gaza health ministry report that Israel opened fire, killing some 100, Reuters suggested that there was no relationship between the shooting and the panic that also may have killed many Palestinians.
The agency repeated the claim of an Israeli official, stating, “But Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over.”
CNN also omitted any mention of the Israeli role in its headline for a video report on the incident. The headline stated, “104 civilians killed trying to access food aid trucks in Gaza, Palestinian health ministry says.”
But in the report itself, CNN correspondent Jeremy Diamond acknowledged that “Our eyewitnesses on the ground indicate it was the Israeli gunfire that prompted those gathered around the truck to flee the scene and in the process run over some of these individuals.”
Diamond added that “This was clearly more than just pushing and trampling,” as Israeli officials claimed, “and we have eyewitnesses making clear the Israeli military did open fire on these individuals as well.”
He added further that Israel bore responsibility for any chaos or trampling that occurred due to Israel’s killing of Palestinian policemen who previously accompanied the aid convoys to maintain order and prevent looting but now refuse to do so due to the danger.
“And it also has to do with the Israeli military in the past has targeted police officers who have been around those aid convoys. And so there is very little security for these,” Diamond stated while acknowledging that Palestinians are desperate and starving.
The New York Times also downplayed Israel’s role, suggesting hungry Gazans were primarily to blame for the deaths rather than Israeli gunfire. The headline stated, “As hungry Gazans crowd an aid convoy, a crush of bodies, Israeli gunshots and a deadly toll.”
The paper acknowledged that Israeli forces opened fire but suggested there was no link between the shootings and the stampede by immediately adding that the Israeli military “attributed most of the deaths to a stampede.”
The article acknowledged that the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza City had “received the bodies of 12 gunshot victims, and around 100 people with gunshot wounds were brought there for treatment, according to its director, Hussam Abu Safiya.”
The article further cited a doctor, Yehia Al Masri, who said he saw “dozens of people with gunshot wounds, including to the head, neck and groin, as well as sacks of flour soaked in blood.”
Another New York Times headline obscured the role of the Israeli army in opening fire, stating, “I.D.F. Videos add to confusion over Gazans killed at aid site.”
The article discussed drone footage released by the Israeli army, claiming to show the deaths were due to a stampede rather than Israeli fire.
But the video did not add to the confusion. Rather, it provided further evidence that Israeli forces opened fire on crowds gathered around the trucks.
The report states that the video shows “Throngs of people crowd around each truck, hoping to catch bags of food as they are tossed off the back. At one point, people in the crowd suddenly appear to panic and run in multiple directions.”
It adds as well that “Another clip in the IDF footage shows two Israeli tanks a quarter mile down the road and at least a dozen bodies lying nearby.”
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