Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) has commendably amended numerous captions which had reported as fact Hamas’ unverified figure for Gaza Strip fatalities.
Multiple DPA captions about Qatari aid to the Gaza Strip yesterday stated as fact a Hamas-supplied figure for Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip without attributing the questionable data to the designated terror organization. The problematic captions had stated:
The number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip has risen to 12300 since the start of battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
A screenshot of one of the DPA captions before it was revised
Given that the information cannot be verified and originates with a terror organization which just carried out one of the worst massacres of civilians in recent memory — with mass atrocities such as torture, burning alive, beheadings, rapes, murder of parents in front of children and vice versa — it is irresponsible to cast the claim as fact.
DPA’s Nov. 18 news story, in contrast, commendably attributed the questionable claim to Hamas (“Israel firms up claim Hamas using hospital, schools for armed fight“), stating: “Israel’s military response – including massive air bombardment and a ground offensive in the north – has killed more than 11,500 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.”
Hamas’ figures, which cannot be verified, do not distinguish between civilians and terrorists and include thousands of terrorists, including the approximately 1500 Hamas terrorists who carried out the slaughter within Israel and were killed as they perpetrated horrific war crimes. The figure also includes Palestinians civilians killed by failed Palestinian rockets meant for Israel.
In response to communication from CAMERA’s Jerusalem office, DPA editors commendably deleted Hamas’ unverified casualty claim entirely from all of the relevant photo captions.
One of DPA’s captions following removal of Hamas’ unverified casualty claim