The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) liberated four hostages during the weekend in a bold rescue operation, where special units ventured deep into Hamas-controlled regions.
The four captives had been taken from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, when Palestinian terrorists breached a ceasefire with Israel, resulting in the deaths of over 1,160 people. The IDF conducted the mission in central Gaza, a significant achievement that required entering civilian areas to free the hostages. The Israeli military reported fewer than 100 casualties following a bombardment aimed at neutralizing attacking Hamas terrorists.
Nevertheless, various media outlets echoed casualty counts provided by Hamas, similar to last fall’s incident when they blamed a civilian hospital bombing on the IDF.
The Associated Press mentioned casualty figures from the Gaza Health Ministry only after 25 paragraphs under the headline, “How an Israeli raid freed 4 hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians in Gaza.”
“The Gaza Health Ministry said 274 Palestinians were killed and around 700 were wounded,” the AP reported, adding, “The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tallies, but said the dead included 64 children and 57 women.”
On Saturday, Ian Bremmer, Editor of Time Magazine, criticized CNN for referring to the hostage rescue as a “release” in a chyron during his interview.
“Disappointed to see [CNN] chyron of hostage ‘release’ during my interview today when Hamas did no such thing,” Bremmer wrote on X. “Anchor quickly corrected on air, but this sort of mistake (repeated by UN officials and others today) is maddening.”
Disappointed to see @cnn chyron of hostage “release” during my interview today when Hamas did no such thing.
Anchor quickly corrected on air, but this sort of mistake (repeated by UN officials and others today) is maddening. pic.twitter.com/Dig01j3v8f
— Ian Bremmer (@ianbremmer) June 8, 2024
CNN’s online article about the operation cited claims by “Gazan authorities” that 236 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 were injured, but the network didn’t acknowledge the uncertainty of these figures until nine paragraphs in.
“CNN has no way of verifying casualty numbers reported by Palestinian officials in Gaza,” the outlet stated. “Medical records in the war-torn enclave do not differentiate between civilians and militants killed.”
Gazan authorities have a history of inflating civilian death toll figures to portray the Israeli military as the aggressors in the conflict, which was instigated by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Last fall, Palestinian officials wrongly blamed Israel for a rocket strike on a Gaza hospital and claimed that hundreds of civilians died. This narrative was uncritically adopted by The Associated Press and The New York Times.
Audio and visual evidence presented by Israel showed the explosion occurred in a parking lot and originated from a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket. U.S. intelligence later confirmed the Israeli evidence, with western officials estimating the actual death toll to be “dozens,” rather than the hundreds reported by Palestinian authorities.
