The terrorist organization Hamas ran every aspect of the government in the Gaza Strip, and they were known for playing games with casualty numbers as a form of propaganda to manipulate the media to be on their side. So, it was inexcusable that CNN host Jake Tapper spent part of Tuesday afternoon suggesting there was “no reason to doubt” a claim that Israel killed hundreds of people in an airstrike at a hospital despite reports it was a misfired Hamas rocket.
“Let's go to a major story developing right now in Gaza, what the Palestinian government is calling a war crime, the government in Gaza says the Israeli Defense Forces struck a hospital in the center of Gaza City,” the self-righteous journalist proclaimed at the top of the segment. Tapper omitted that the Palestinian government he was quoting was operated by terrorists.
Without an ounce of skepticism or critical thinking, Tapper parroted Hamas propaganda: “Preliminary numbers from the government in Gaza put the number killed in the strike, somewhere between 200 and 300. We expect there are many more innocent people still trapped under the rubble.”
“And as you mentioned, we are hearing initial estimates of at least 200 to 300 people killed in that strike, and many, many, many more feared dead. Now, Hamas is calling this a genocide. Hamas has vowed to avenge it,” Clarissa Ward backed up Tapper.
Ward was followed up by AC360 host Anderson Cooper, who pumped the brakes on going along with blaming Israel and siding with the terrorists. And unlike Tapper, Cooper noted that the death toll numbers they were getting were coming from a terrorist organization. “So, obviously, more remains to be seen. Some sort of an explosion at this hospital, the death toll is high. Hundreds killed, according to Hamas officials on the ground,” he explained to viewers.
He also noted Hamas rockets have a noted history of falling short. “Or a Hamas rocket launch that then falls short and lands killing civilians, which we have also seen in past conflicts. So, at this point, it's still very early. We're trying to gain more information on the ground,” he told Tapper.
Tapper inexplicably pushed back by defending Hamas. “[W]e have reports of hundreds killed and there's no reason to doubt that,” he proclaimed as if it was true. He argued the only thing in question was everything else about it. “But we don't know what caused it. We don't know who caused it. We don't know the situation under which this happened,” he huffed, blaming the fog of war.
According to reporting from Times of Israel military correspondent Emanuel Fabian, intelligence gathered by the Israel Defense Forces shows the explosion at the hospital was caused by a failed rocket fired by Islamic Jihad, a smaller terrorist group inside Gaza.
The IDF noted to Fabian that a rocket barrage had “passed in the vicinity of the hospital, when it was hit” and “According to intelligence information, from several sources we have, the PIJ organization is responsible for the failed [rocket] fire that hit the hospital.”
Fabian also aggregated multiple videos that seemingly confirmed that a rocket attack was indeed occurring when an errant rocket flew off and fell short in Gaza.
IDF Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus appeared on CNN News Central during the next hour and told them off for pushing Hamas propaganda. “[A]nything said by Hamas should be taken with extreme caution and skepticism, and I urge all journalists to be very careful when they report what Hamas says,” he scolded them.
He also confirmed what hit the hospital: “Islamic Jihad, another terrorist organization in Gaza, is responsible for a failed rocket launch that struck the hospital in Gaza."
.@IDF's @JConricus to @NewsCentralCNN on Gaza hospital explosion: "[A]nything said by Hamas should be taken with extreme caution and skepticism, and I urge all journalists to be very careful when they report what Hamas says and when they base reporting on those events. What I can… pic.twitter.com/ObTBcFaWeo
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 17, 2023
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN News Central
October 17, 2023
2:05:35 p.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: Let's go to a major story developing right now in Gaza, what the Palestinian government is calling a war crime, the government in Gaza says the Israeli Defense Forces struck a hospital in the center of Gaza City, the al-Ahli Baptist hospital. Preliminary numbers from the government in Gaza put the number killed in the strike, somewhere between 200 and 300. We expect there are many more innocent people still trapped under the rubble.
The IDF says they're looking into reports of the incident and it remains unclear to them, right now, they say, if the hospital was struck by Israeli warplanes or by a failed Hamas rocket launch.
Let's go straight to CNN's Clarissa Ward who is in Israel in the town of Ashkelon. Clarissa.
CLARISSA WARD: Yeah, Jake, we have heard nonstop sirens, basically, for the last few hours, that in response to this horrifying strike on this Baptist hospital. That is a hospital in Gaza City, that is in the northern part the enclave. Thousands of people were taking shelter there, from the continued violence, many people were being treated there, some of them couldn't be moved, despite evacuation orders that had been in place.
And as you mentioned, we are hearing initial estimates of at least 200 to 300 people killed in that strike, and many, many, many more feared dead. Now, Hamas is calling this a genocide. Hamas has vowed to avenge it.
(…)
2:08:27 p.m. Eastern
ANDERSON COOPER: Jake, yeah, we are just hearing more about this, as you've been hearing from Clarissa. I don't have much more information than what she has said. The spokesperson for the IDF, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has said that the IDF is looking into what happened.
Obviously, you’ve heard the statement that Hamas has made, called it a genocide. Calling for other nations -- let me give you the exact wording, I'm not going to read the full statement, it says, “The international community, Arab and Islamic countries must bear the responsibility and intervene immediately now and not tomorrow to stop the aggression and the fascist army of the occupation and hold accountable.”
So, obviously, more remains to be seen. Some sort of an explosion at this hospital, the death toll is high. Hundreds killed, according to Hamas officials on the ground. What we have seen, certainly in the past, is either an Israeli strike or an accidental strike, intentional or accidental. Or a Hamas rocket launch that then falls short and lands killing civilians, which we have also seen in past conflicts. So, at this point, it's still very early. We're trying to gain more information on the ground, Jake.
TAPPER: Yeah, I know. I mean, this is always a very difficult situation, because right now, we have reports of hundreds killed and there's no reason to doubt that. But we don't know what caused it. We don't know who caused it. We don't know the situation under which this happened. And we're trying to bring the best information we can under the worst circumstances there are. So, we will bring that, as we can. Obviously, reporting from Gaza is all but impossible right now for most news organizations because it is under constant bombardment.
(…)
