Washington:
The White House has retracted President Joe Biden’s statement in which he mentioned viewing images of beheaded children following Hamas’s fatal attack on Israel.
This change came after Biden described seeing such disturbing visuals during a meeting with Jewish leaders at the White House, recounting his disbelief at encountering confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children. He referred to the attack on Saturday as the “deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.”
Unverified claims regarding the beheading of Israeli children and the sexual assault of hostages by the Palestinian armed group circulated widely on social media following the Saturday attack.
The claims gained traction after Nicole Zedek, a reporter from the Tel Aviv-based news channel i24, stated during a live broadcast that she had spoken to Israeli soldiers who had witnessed infants being decapitated.
In response to inquiries by The Washington Post, a White House spokesperson clarified that the president’s comments were based on news reports and assertions made by the Israeli government.
“The White House spokesperson later made it clear that U.S. officials and the president had not personally seen any pictures or independently confirmed such reports,” The Post reported on Wednesday.
Biden’s statements were prominently featured on the front pages of Western newspapers, and reports of beheaded infants have been cited in some quarters as a rationale for retaliatory actions and the collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population.
The Israeli military stated that it could not verify these claims, which were reiterated on Wednesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson, Tal Heinrich.
However, Israeli military officials have informed various media outlets that women and children were “brutally butchered in an ISIS manner.”
Hamas has denied allegations that its fighters were involved in beheading children and assaulting women, labeling these claims as “false.”
Social media platforms such as Facebook, X, and TikTok have been inundated with fake news regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to several investigation.