Widely circulated reports on Tuesday, June 3, from several news outlets claimed that Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinians near an aid distribution site in Gaza. That incident followed a series of similar attacks at aid centers over the previous few days. Together, those reports generated international concern and calls from the United Nations to launch a formal investigation.
Now, The Washington Post is issuing corrections after omitting Israel’s initial denial of some of those incidents. Israel now says that it fired upon individuals who it believed were approaching an IDF position in a threatening manner.
Early media headlines included phrases such as “Israeli forces in Gaza kill dozens of Palestinians seeking aid” and “At least 27 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire.” The reports cited the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.
Health researchers in the U.K. said in January that the Hamas-run ministry had actually been undercounting deaths in Gaza by about 41%, whereas earlier estimates held that the ministry was undercounting mortalities by only 10%. An unknown number of bodies are believed to be buried under rubble, and that is a primary factor in the disagreement.
Israeli officials refute allegations
Israeli officials initially refuted the accusation that they fired on Palestinian civilians, calling it a “Hamas lie” and accusing international media of amplifying propaganda without proper verification. More recently, the IDF has admitted that it fired upon some individuals in the crowd, and said that there would be an investigation of those allegations.
Washington Post issues statement
The Washington Post altered its original headline, which read, “Israeli troops kill over 30 near U.S. aid site in Gaza, health officials say.” The outlet changed it to “More than 30 killed by gunfire near U.S. aid site in Gaza,” removing attribution of blame to Israel following Israel’s denial.
“The Post didn’t give proper weight to Israel’s denial and gave improper certitude about what was known about any Israeli role in the shootings,” The Post wrote in a statement on X. “The early versions fell short of Post standards of fairness and should not have been published in that form.”
White House weighs in
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the incident Tuesday, criticizing news coverage of the event.
“Unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas with total truth,” Leavitt said. “We like to look into it when they speak — unlike the BBC who had multiple headlines they wrote: ‘Israeli tank kills 26,’ ‘Israeli tank kills 21,’ ‘Israeli gunfire kills 31,’ ‘Red Cross says 21 people were killed in an aid incident’ — and then, oh wait, they had to correct and take down their entire story because they couldn’t confirm anything.”
Israel does not permit journalists to enter Gaza, making it difficult for most news organizations to independently confirm any allegations.
BBC stands by report
The BBC has denied that it removed or corrected any of its reporting. In a statement, the outlet said: “The claim the BBC took down a story after reviewing footage is completely wrong. We did not remove any story and we stand by our journalism. It is vital to bring people the truth about what is happening in Gaza.”
The Associated Press, Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross also stood by those reports.
Narrative conflicts
The attack on Tuesday marks the third alleged Israeli attack in or around food distribution centers over a period of four days. The latest report followed two similar incidents on Sunday and Monday, where witnesses and officials said that Israeli troops opened fire near aid centers.
On Monday, CNN wrote that dozens of Palestinians were shot dead by the Israeli military near an aid distribution site, citing Palestinian officials, doctors and eyewitnesses. The IDF initially denied that Israeli troops fired “within or near” the site, but a spokesperson later acknowledged that they did, stating that they “didn’t hit that many people as far as we understand [and] we will continue to investigate.”
Hospital bombing controversy
The conflicting reports on the aid distribution center attacks reflect a much earlier incident regarding a 2023 attack on al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City. Initial reports of hundreds of people dying in an explosion there, also citing the Gaza Health Ministry, blamed an Israeli airstrike. Later assessments, including from U.S. intelligence agencies, found it was more likely caused by a misfired rocket launched by a Palestinian militia group.
That hospital story led to corrections from The New York Times, though the BBC, which first reported the incident, defended its journalism. Other outlets have continued to attribute blame to Israel, while others retracted or corrected those allegations.
The BBC said at the time that it properly attributed the original claim to the Gaza Health Ministry and later updated the report with Israel’s denial.
IDF forces recently bombed the same hospital on April 13, 2025.
“Anyone watching, listening to or reading it can see we have set out both sides’ competing claims about the attack, clearly showing who is saying them, and what we do or don’t know,” the BBC said in a statement.
