There were a many reasons for any journalist, particularly anybody covering this conflict, to be skeptical about the initial claim. Israel does not target hospitals, and is especially unlikely to do so on the eve of a visit from President Biden. Hamas, a terrorist group that just slaughtered 1,400 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more, has a long record of lying to advance its propaganda aims — including lying about rockets aimed at Israel that misfire and end up landing within Gaza. Furthermore, the idea that, within an hour of the explosion, in the dark, Hamas was somehow able to identify 500 people dead (when Israel is still counting bodies a week and a half after the Hamas massacre of October 7) should have been another sign that maybe the story was not on the level.

And yet, news organizations just ran with it.

[I have more on this in my latest post, and Beege will have more in a couple of hours. Suffice it to say that Hamas knows its target audience and can rely on it to amplify their propaganda. You would think American media outlets would be embarrassed to partner with Nazi-esque terror organizations on The Narrative, but apparently not. — Ed]