Italian Reporter in Gaza Reveals Hamas Cover-Up

Family cries over deaths in explosions last week in Gaza. Hamas was responsible. (Photo: Emad Nassar/Flash90) Family cries over deaths in explosions on Monday in Gaza. Hamas was responsible. (Photo: Emad Nassar/Flash90)

A journalist in Gaza backs the IDF version of a missile strike on a school playground and says Hamas rockets went astray. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Child injured in Hamas rocket attack on playground in Gaza on Monday. (Photo: Flash90)

An Italian journalist who until Tuesday was embedded in Gaza has backed the IDF’s account of a rocket strike on a school playground in central Gaza’s Shati refugee camp on Monday.

At least 10 people were killed in the attack – most of them children – and some sources claimed the death toll was as high as 30. Palestinian sources were quick to blame Israel, claiming that an Israeli fighter jet fired missiles directly at the playground and nearby hospital. Israel denied the accusations, saying that Hamas rockets aimed at Israel from the area misfired, and struck both the school and the hospital:

Verifying facts on the ground in Gaza is notoriously difficult for foreign reporters, and even for Palestinian journalists seen as aligned with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, as journalists are closely watched by Hamas security forces and can face interrogation and a permanent ban from Gaza for publishing material deemed unfavorable to the territory’s Islamist rulers. As such, little information has emerged on what exactly happened that day in Shati.

But returning from a stint in Gaza, and safe from what he ominously referred to as potential “Hamas retaliation”, Italian journalist Gabriele Barbati on Tuesday afternoon broke the media silence by tweeting the following message, confirming that Hamas terrorists rushed to cover up evidence of what was indeed errant rocket fire aimed at Israel:

Out of #Gaza far from #Hamas retaliation: misfired rocket killed children yday in Shati. Witness: militants rushed and cleared debris

Hamas has not issued a response to Barbari’s claims, and it is unclear whether he will face a ban from reporting from the Strip in the future. But whatever happens to him, his claims raise some uncomfortable questions about the objectivity of reports coming from Gaza – in particular the accuracy of the much-touted civilian death toll, and who may be responsible for it.

This story was published on Israel National News (Arutz-7). To read it in full, click HERE.

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