An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman pushed back on CNN host Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday telling him to “exercise caution” when “relying on reports coming out of Gaza,” noting that a slew of corporate outlets previously falsely reported that Israel bombed a Gaza hospital.
IDF Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus joined “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” giving an update on the latest development in the Israel-Hamas War. Blitzer specifically asked the IDF spokesman if “taking out one Hamas leader” and “possibly some other Hamas targets” was worth the deaths of “innocent Palestinians.” (RELATED: China Wipes Israel From Digital Map)
“I would exercise a lot of caution relying on reports coming out of Gaza. I remember how the event in the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City started with reports of 500 dead and then 800 dead, and I know how it ended,” Conricus responded.
“We were blamed for killing … many Palestinian civilians then, but it later became apparent what had happened. And it also became apparent that the number of civilian casualties was greatly inflated by all of the so-called authorities in Gaza, which is basically saying Hamas.”
Tuesday reports indicated that the Israeli military had hit a large refugee camp with airstrikes in Northern Gaza causing “significant damage,” according to NPR.
“Now I’m not saying that there are no civilian casualties. What I am saying is that we struck an important military objective. This Ibrahim Biari, who was a battalion commander who was leading operations and fighting against Israel as he was targeted,” Conricus responded.
“He and many dozens of enemy combatants were in a tunnel complex underneath the ground. We struck that tunnel complex and we caused it — that caused it to collapse.”
“We have to put into context that this is the same area, Northern Gaza, that we have been asking Palestinian civilians, non-combatants, to evacuate for almost two weeks,” Conricus continued. “Most Palestinians have, but I really ask and would want to understand why have Palestinian civilians either been forced or chosen to remain in that area in direct risk of their own lives?”
Israel began asking Gaza civilians to evacuate the northern area earlier this month, after calling a complete siege on the city in response to a terrorist attack from Hamas on Oct. 7 which killed over 1,300 people.
CNN had to issue a correction on Oct. 25 for falsely reporting that Israel had bombed the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. (RELATED: Corporate Media Mass Stealth-Edits Headlines After Blindly Parroting Hamas To Blame Israel For Hospital Bombing)
The outlet originally reported the story with a headline that read, “Israel hits hospital and school in Gaza as blockade puts healthcare system in state of ‘collapse,'” basing their report off the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health. However, after additional intelligence showed that Israel had not hit the hospital, CNN had to correct story stating that they did not “clearly attribute claims” regarding Israel’s alleged role in the incident.
“Israel later said a ‘misfired’ rocket by militant group Islamic Jihad caused the blast and produced evidence to support its claim. US President Joe Biden said the Israeli position is backed by US intelligence. CNN’s forensic analysis of images and videos suggests a rocket fired from within Gaza caused the blast, not an Israeli airstrike,” the correction further read.