WASHINGTON, DC: Many on social media are expressing skepticism over reports that Hamas militants decapitated babies during a series of brutal attacks in southern Israel.
US President Joe Biden raised eyebrows when he claimed to have seen "confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children."
Speaking to leaders of Jewish groups at the White House, the 80-year-old president expressed his shock at witnessing such horrific acts.
“I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children … I never thought I’d ever — anyway,” he said.
However, the White House later clarified that neither the President nor US officials had seen such images or independently confirmed the alleged atrocities.
Instead, Biden's comments were based on statements by the spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and media reports from Israel.
Allegations of brutal acts by Hamas at Kfar Aza
The initial reports of these gruesome acts emerged after the spokesperson for Prime Minister Netanyahu, Tal Heinrich, disclosed to CNN that babies and toddlers had been found decapitated in Kfar Aza, a small community near the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also characterized the events as a "massacre," in which women, children, toddlers, and elderly individuals were "brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action."
Hamas, on the other hand, categorically denied these allegations, describing them as "false" reports about attacking children and civilians.
“The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has strongly dismissed the false claims promoted by some Western media outlets, such as Palestinian freedom fighters killing children and targeting civilians,” the group stated on its Telegram channel.
The initial reports of the gruesome acts drew skepticism from various quarters, including some media outlets that were unable to independently verify the reports.
Conflicting statements from Israeli authorities further contributed to the confusion surrounding the events.
Social media skeptical about alleged war crimes at Kfar Aza
Supporters of Palestine also cast doubts on these disturbing claims, with one individual posting on X (formerly Twitter), "THE FIRST CASUALTY OF WAR IS TRUTH... ALWAYS!!!!"
While another person drew parallels with past claims about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). "Sounds like those WMD weapons," they wrote.
"This has NOT been confirmed at all," someone else added while another asked, "Where is the proof of this?? Have you seen the babies?!?"
Challenges in verifying shocking claims about Kfar Aza
Nicole Zedek, a journalist with Israel's i24 News, was the original source of the claims. “I’ve been talking to some of the soldiers, and they say what they’ve witnessed as they’ve been walking through these houses, these communities — babies, their heads cut off. That is what they said,” she said on Tuesday, October 10.
“Families gunned down in their beds. You can see some of these soldiers now, comforting each other, many of them reserves, many of whom left their own families behind, not knowing the sheer horror they were going to come to." Zedek said.
"They say they’ve never experienced anything like this, this is not something anyone ever could have imagined. About 40 babies at least were taken out on gurneys. They are going house to house still taking out dead bodies," Zedek claimed.
Fox News war correspondent Trey Yingst added fuel to the fire with a shocking account of the events. “Imagine the worst things possible that can be done to humans. Hamas did all of that and more to Israeli civilians. Babies beheaded. People burned alive in their homes. Women raped and dragged through the streets. Don’t look away," he wrote on X.
IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus, while expressing his deep concern, stated that he was unable to confirm the "sickening" reports of beheadings. “I have heard the reports. I have been chilled by the reports,” he told Sky News Australia, as quoted by news.com.au.
“At this stage, I cannot confirm it. Sadly, I don’t think it would be beneath them to do even such a monstrosity, but at this stage, I cannot confirm it. The pictures are sickening. I mean I’ve been around military business for many years and I’ve seen my share of things that I would rather not have seen. It’s become like something from ... beyond our ability to comprehend," Conricus added.
French journalist Samuel Forey, who visited Kfar Aza, also expressed doubt regarding the beheading of babies. “I checked with two emergency services (wishing to remain anonymous, as the subject is sensitive), who collected a number of corpses. Both claim that they have not witnessed such abuses — without saying that it did not exist,” he wrote on X.
A spokesperson for the IDF told The Intercept that they couldn't confirm the reports officially, "but you can assume it happened and believe the report."
Meanwhile, Yossi Landau, an official with Israel's volunteer civilian emergency response organization Zaka, told CBS News that he personally saw the bodies of children and babies who had been beheaded. “I saw a lot more that cannot be described for now, because it’s very hard to describe,” he said.
In the aftermath of these reports, Nicole Zedek expressed her shock and dismay at the initial public skepticism. “I mean, babies’ heads cut off,” she said. “That’s what they encountered when they came there. So as horrible as it is and I wish that it wasn’t true.”
