Washington Post admits to faulty reporting on claim that Israel killed dozens of Gazan civilians at aide site
The Washington Post admitted Tuesday that a claim in its recent report that Israeli soldiers killed dozens of civilians in Gaza could not be verified.
The outlet shared a post on X stating it had updated its Sunday article to reflect that it could not verify that Israeli troops killed around 30 civilians near a U.S. aid site in Gaza. The previous version of the piece reported that the Israeli military had committed the killings.
"The article and headline were updated on Sunday evening making it clear that there was no consensus about who was responsible for the shootings and that there was a dispute over that question," the outlet's social media post read.
At least 26 Palestinians were reportedly killed and some 175 were wounded over the weekend as they made their way to receive food in the Gaza Strip, according to officials from the Hamas-run health ministry and witnesses.
Witnesses said Israeli forces fired on crowds around 1,000 yards away from an aid site run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). A Palestinian journalist told the BBC that thousands of Palestinians had gathered near the aid site near Gaza's southern city of Rafah when Israeli tanks approached and opened fire on the crowd.
However, the IDF has disputed these allegations, saying they are "currently unaware of injuries caused by IDF fire within the Humanitarian Aid distribution site," adding that "the matter is still under review."
"It is false and fabricated. All aid was distributed today without incident," the GHF said. "No injuries or fatalities as noted in our daily update sent out earlier. We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated."
However, as an editor's note in the updated Washington Post piece said, The Post had reported on Sunday that "Israeli troops had killed more than 30 people near a U.S. aid site, with the headline attributing the action to 'health officials.'"
"The article failed to make clear if attributing the deaths to Israel was the position of the Gaza health ministry or a fact verified by The Post," the note read.
The body of the updated piece reported the casualties, but this time, did not blame the IDF. It said, "At least 31 people were killed and another 170 wounded, most of them with gunshot wounds to the extremities and upper body, according to local health officials and medics who treated the victims."
"While three witnesses said the gunfire came from Israeli military positions, the Israel Defense Forces denied the allegations, saying in a statement that an initial inquiry indicated that its soldiers did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the distribution site," the new piece added.
The editor's note confirmed that "The article and headline were updated on Sunday evening and for the print edition on Monday making it clear that there was no consensus about who was responsible for the shooting and that there was a dispute over that question."
It added, "The Post didn't give proper weight to Israel's denial and gave improper certitude about what was known about any Israeli role in the shootings. The early versions fell short of Washington Post standards of fairness and should not have been published in that form."
Reps for The Washington Post did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for additional comment.
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