Children of Gaza ignite a crisis between the New York Times and an Israeli newspaper, and the platforms interact policy

The New York Times published the report on October 9, in which it presented testimonies of medical workers in the besieged Gaza Strip in the period between March 25 and April 8.

The doctors and nurses who spoke in the report unanimously described what they saw in the heart of Gaza’s hospitals as “heartbreaking and terrifying” scenes, as they mentioned in their testimonies cases of children under their teenage years who were hit by gunshots in the heads or in the chest, and died as a result.

Their testimonies also revealed the emergence of cases of severe malnutrition and the spread of psychological crises among young children, to the point that some children thought about committing suicide or wished for death.

The New York Times explained in its report that it contacted the Israeli army, which responded that it is committed to mitigating harm to civilians, is making great efforts to estimate collateral damage to civilians, and is committed to all applicable international legal obligations.

However, after the report was published, the newspaper was subjected to a wave of widespread criticism from the Israeli media and supporters of Israel. The newspaper “Israel Hayom” claimed that analysts compared CT scan images of bullet wounds to the head with images of injuries that usually result from these bullets, and did not find injuries or fractures in the newspaper’s images. Similar.

11 thousand children killed

While the New York Times responded to these criticisms, deeming them baseless, and explained that the report was subjected to careful review before publication, and all the testimonies it published were verified.

According to the latest figures from Oxfam, the Israeli occupation army killed more than 11,000 children during the past year in the Gaza Strip, and this number exceeds the number of those killed in all other conflicts in the same period over the past two decades, without this number including the unidentified or missing. Or buried under the rubble.

The October 17, 2024 episode of the “Shabakat” program highlighted the differing opinions of activists on social media regarding the report, between those who called for the importance of continuing work to liberate Palestine, and others who noted a shift in the position of some American media outlets toward the Israeli narrative.

According to the tweeter Ali, the most important thing is not to care about denying the occupation and continuing to work to liberate Palestine. He said, “Regardless of the evidence provided by the newspaper, other newspapers, and even international bodies, the Zionists will continue to deny. We must expect these actions, and continue working to liberate Palestine.”

Israel’s contradiction

While the account owner, Lama, pointed out that the report indicates a shift in the American press’s stance towards the Israeli narrative, and she tweeted, “Even the American newspapers – which often promote the entity’s false narrative – are tired of their lies and can no longer tolerate this distortion and this amount of crime.”

As for the activist Fadi, he expressed his hope that this report would move something in the American administration, and said, “A witness from its people testified, so that (perhaps) the American administration would believe the New York Times, because all the numbers of martyrs in Gaza did not move the feelings of US President Joe Biden and his group.”

For her part, tweeter Yara pointed out the contradiction in the Israeli position on New York Times reports, and wrote, “When the report from the New York Times is in its interest, Israel supports it and raises the newspaper’s shares, and when it is in clear condemnation, the newspaper becomes disreputable, fabricating stories and yellow journalism in their view.”

According to reports, Israel constantly criticizes and rejects reports condemning the practices of its army. The most recent of these reports was what was published by multiple media outlets about the use of at least 11 teams composed of Israeli soldiers and intelligence personnel of detained Palestinian civilians as human shields, so that the occupation soldiers would not be exposed to danger during Reconnaissance missions in 5 cities in Gaza.