NYT Concedes Too Much Reliance on Hamas Claims For Hospital Blast

The New York Times acknowledged on Monday that it “relied too heavily” on claims made by Hamas when reporting on an explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip last week.

In an editor’s note, the publication said it should not have depended so much on government officials affiliated with Hamas to initially report that Israeli forces conducted an airstrike on October 17 that hit the Gaza City hospital and killed hundreds of people. The early account received a “large headline” at the top of the newspaper’s website, the note added.

Such coverage helped fuel anti-Israel protests and gave Rep. Rashida Tliab (D-MI), the lone Palestinian-American member of Congress, a new attack line against Israel.