1/The Fog of War: Beheaded Babies.
Six months ago today, a series of reputable news outlets published reports that Hamas militants had beheaded babies at the Kfar Aza kibbutz on Oct. 7 in southern Israel. The @WSJ was not one of them.
Six months ago today, a series of reputable news outlets published reports that Hamas militants had beheaded babies at the Kfar Aza kibbutz on Oct. 7 in southern Israel. The @WSJ was not one of them.
2/ My colleague Ari Flanzraich and I reported across southern Israel that day, talking to survivors and soldiers as we tried to piece together what happened on Oct. 7. "I'll give it to you straight," one soldier told us. "I am looking for revenge." wsj.com
3/ It took four days for Israel to secure Kfar Aza, a community of about 700 residents within eyeshot of the Gaza Strip border. On Oct. 10, the Israeli military brought a group of reporters to Kfar Aza so they could see the scale of the atrocities. nytimes.com
4/ One of the most prominent accounts came from @i24NEWS_EN's @Nicole_Zedek, who reported that Hamas had beheaded babies in Kfar Aza. x.com
5/ @Nicole_Zedek said at many as 40 babies and children were killed at Kfar Aza on Oct. 7 and her reports were widely shared around the world.
6/ Another Israeli military officer told the @Independent that Hamas beheaded babies: independent.co.uk
7/ @WSJ editors asked us to check on the shocking reports, so Ari and I headed independently to Kfar Aza where we were able to gain access with Israeli forces that evening. Soldiers were still removing bodies and preparing for their counter-attack.
8/ Kfar Aza was a morbid ghost town. Hamas pickup trucks with Gaza Strip plates sat next to empty RPG canisters.
9/ But no Israeli soldiers in Kfar Aza told us that Hamas had beheaded babies, or that 40 children had been killed there that day. I checked with Israeli officials I trusted and none could confirm the reports.
10/ I spent hours trying to verify the stories from reputable colleagues - to no avail. We were told that Palestinian militants had beheaded adult victims -- something later verified by video they took of their attack -- but not babies.
12/ Israeli investigations have found that 70 Palestinian attackers killed more than 50 Kfar Aza residents on Oct. 7. The youngest was 14-years-old. There are no reports of babies being killed that day in Kfar Aza.
13/ AFP calculated in February that 1,160 people -- including 767 civilians and 376 security force members -- were killed on Oct. 7. The youngest was a newborn baby. 37 minors under 18 died that day, including 6 children aged 5 or under. barrons.com
14/@PolitiFact took an extensive look at how far the unverified claims stretched - all the way to the White House. President Biden claimed, inaccurately, to have seen photos of beheaded babies. politifact.com
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