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By: David Litman
Over the course of the ongoing war launched by Hamas on October 7, there has been a growing trend of CNN reporters making shocking factual allegations based on thin evidence. Unchecked by journalistic standards, some of these reporters have moved past making dubious factual allegations to making dubious legal conclusions based on them. Instead of acting as journalists, they are acting as both prosecutor and judge.
Such is the case in the February 28 article, “How indiscriminate Israeli fire killed half a family in Gaza” by Abeer Salman, Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Benjamin Brown, Mick Krever, Jomana Karadsheh, Ivana Kottasová, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Carlotta Dotto, Byron Manley, and Lou Robinson.
The story has to do with the alleged bombing of a warehouse that resulted in eight dead – including five members of the Abu Jibba family – in what the authors declare was an “indiscriminate” bombing and an “atrocity.” That is, they aren’t just reporting facts; they are declaring that those facts amount to a legal conclusion which the authors deem themselves competent to make.
This makes it all the more important to thoroughly analyze CNN’s reporting.
But, as has repeatedly been the case in CNN articles, the story is riddled with factual errors and misleading narratives. In some cases, the facts reported by CNN itself contradict the journalists’ conclusions.
This analysis will begin by focusing on the main factual allegations regarding the presence, or lack thereof, of terrorists in the vicinity, and whether the IDF knew, or should have known, that the building was being used as a shelter. Following that is a review of some of the ways in which the authors mislead about the facts and the law of armed conflict.
The Facts
Before laying out the facts, it is necessary to elaborate on the question of which facts matter, given that the story accuses the IDF of what amounts to a war crime. In determining whether a military strike violated the law of armed conflict (LOAC), the important question isn’t whether civilians died, but rather what the commander knew, or reasonably should have known, at the time of the strike. As explained by LOAC experts Geoffrey S. Corn and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Robert P. Ashley, the tendency to issue “effects-based” condemnations “fundamentally distorts the LOAC equation for assessing attack legality, an equation that focuses on the attack judgment and not the attack effect. The law demands that those judgments be reasonable under the existing circumstances, not that they always be right.”
To make such an allegation in a responsible way, the reporters must be able to demonstrate that they thoroughly reviewed all available evidence, including both inculpatory and exculpatory information. Given the gravity of the allegation, the evidence should be substantial. To make such serious allegations based on flimsy evidence would be, as CAMERA has pointed out before, equivalent to tabloid journalism.
The Alleged Facts
So what is the evidence presented that suggests an “atrocity?”
The authors allege that on January 4, eight Gazans, including five from the Abu Jibba family, were killed by the IDF in a warehouse located on Salah a-Din Road, near the towns of Maghazi, Deir al-Balah, and Zawayda. Citing “experts,” the authors argue that the crater at the site suggests a 2,000-pound bomb was used, and that it is consistent with one that “detonated on impact.” However, according to CNN’s main witness, at least “several” were killed at the scene by gunfire shortly before the bombing. In a statement given to CNN, the IDF reportedly explained that its forces were taking gunfire from that location, and the strike was carried out to address that threat.
The reporters write that, “Eyewitnesses said there were no militants inside the warehouses where they were sheltering, and that they weren’t aware of Hamas operating in the area.” Sumaya Abu Jibba, the mother, also claimed that they had “put up white flags” and wrote “displaced families” on the building. Sumaya also claims that “Israeli drones and planes were constantly flying overhead, monitoring the area.” CNN also asserts, based on the claims of the witnesses, that the Gazans were never told to evacuate the area.
Given this is the main evidence CNN provides to suggest the IDF committed an “atrocity,” it is worth going through each of the individual allegations. Are any of these allegations contradicted elsewhere in CNN’s own reporting? Is there available open-source information contradicting some of the claims? Are there any reasonable alternative interpretations of the facts presented?
Was Hamas Operating in the Area?
Whether Hamas and/or other Palestinian terrorists were operating in the vicinity of the warehouse is a crucial question. The claim that the IDF engaged in “indiscriminate” bombing largely rests on this fact, for if terrorists were operating in the vicinity, that would substantially raise the likelihood that the IDF’s version of events is accurate and that the IDF was not bombing anyone and anything, but was trying to target terrorists.
It’s thus notable that CNN’s claim that “eyewitnesses” said “they weren’t aware of Hamas operating in the area” of the warehouse is flatly false, based on the network’s own reporting.
The authors themselves cite a witness, Hamed al-Hinnawi, who was staying in a building directly across the street from the warehouse, who said he heard “resistance fire” that morning. Al-Hinnawi told CNN that he decided to flee “west, away from the fiercest fighting” with his family. Notably, the warehouse in which the Abu Jibba family was located was to Al-Hinnawi’s east.
The article also briefly acknowledges that “local journalists” reported “clashes” in the area that day, but this understates the evidence.
Consider one detail hidden in CNN’s reporting, seemingly aimed at depicting the IDF as indiscriminate: the allegation that an UNRWA warehouse “located just up the road” from the warehouse was hit by two tank shells on the same day. Omitted, however, is that Hamas itself announced that morning that it had attacked an “Israeli Merkava tank” to the “west of al-Maghazi.” The warehouse in question is located west, and slightly to the south, of al-Maghazi.
CNN reported claims of IDF tank fire in the vicinity, but omitted that Hamas itself was boasting of its presence in the area and of having attacked Israeli tanks.
The timing of this report fits with the incident at the warehouse, too. One of CNN’s witnesses, Alaa Abu Jibba, put the timeline of the IDF operations at the warehouse as “from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m.” The Hamas announcement about attacking an Israeli tank went out around noon, based on the near simultaneous posting by the Hamas-affiliated Safa news agency and the Hamas-linked Hassan Eslayeh, whom CNN itself has used in the past.
Other reports and video of clashes between the IDF and Palestinian terrorists in the area were also posted during this time period. Quds News posted reports of “clashes” in the area multiple times during this period, including at 7:07a.m. and 8:25a.m. At 4:15a.m., Quds News even posted video, reportedly filmed from the Shomar Factory in al-Maghazi, which is “just up the road” from the warehouse, in which the sounds of a loud gun battle can be heard. That day, Al-Ghad TV also reported battles and the use of smoke shells – used to screen ground forces from enemy fire – in the area.
But the evidence of the presence of Palestinian terrorists in the vicinity gets even stronger.
As CNN itself admits, the warehouse was built on the same section of Salah a-Din Road in which the IDF found Hamas’s main weapons manufacturing complex which stretched nearly two kilometers from al-Bureij and Nuseirat nearly all the way to Deir al-Balah.
The complex was built in four different centers. The warehouse was located in one of those centers, which the IDF termed the “rocket department.” In other words, the warehouse sat in the middle of one of Hamas’s most strategically important sites in Gaza.
Provided below are two images to help get a sense of the proximity of these Hamas sites to where the Abu Jibbas were staying. First is a map showing the locations of the various sites in question. The second image is a still from a video published by the IDF showing the demolition of the Hamas terror tunnel in which the warehouse in question can be seen.
The warehouse was plainly located in close proximity to these strategic Hamas sites, which have been documented with footage and even toured by independent journalists. One of the tunnel shafts exposed by the IDF was located around 175 meters away from the warehouse.
To reach the conclusion that Hamas was not operating in the vicinity, and thus the IDF committed an “indiscriminate” attack, the authors had to ignore CNN’s own witness, numerous media reports, and the claims of Hamas itself. On top of that, CNN would have to believe that Hamas did not put up a fight at one of its most strategic sites in the Gaza Strip.
The Warehouse
Now consider a key question: were there any terrorists in the warehouse itself? Despite how central this question is to CNN’s assertion that an “atrocity” was carried out by the IDF, the evidence presented is shockingly thin.
In support of this conclusion, the authors produce only one piece of evidence: “Eyewitnesses said there were no militants inside the warehouses where they were sheltering.” But the IDF directly contradicted this, saying its forces were fired upon from that location. This raises the question of why CNN chose to believe one side, but not the other. This becomes more puzzling given that there is strong circumstantial evidence that Hamas was operating in the immediate vicinity.
But even beyond the evidence of Hamas in the area, there are several reasons to question the reliability of the claims made by CNN’s eyewitnesses. In particular, it is not clear that these “eyewitnesses” were actually in a position to know what was happening in the warehouse.
Consider, for example, that two of CNN’s named witnesses were not even in the warehouse. One, al-Hinnawi, was sheltering at a ceramic and tile factory across the street. It’s also not clear whether or not he had fled by the time the warehouse was bombed. It’s further unclear where exactly another named witness, Alaa Abu Jibba, was at the time of the incident. The only place CNN identifies him being is in a field in which displaced Gazans had set up tents approximately 200 meters away from the warehouse.
But it’s also unclear whether those located at the warehouse actually could have known what was happening in the warehouse. After all, CNN clearly states that they were staying not in the warehouse itself, but in a warehouse annex. Based on some of CNN’s own footage, it appears that the annex was a distinct, separate part of the building, and that there was at least one wall between the Abu Jibba family and the part of the warehouse that was apparently hit by the bomb.
This raises the question of how those staying in the “annex” knew, or could have known, that terrorists were not operating in the part of the warehouse struck. The authors mention they sent an “extensive set of questions” to the IDF, but did they pose a similarly extensive set of questions to those at the warehouse? Thorough questioning would help tease out these details and any potential inconsistencies in the statements of those witnesses. If the reporters did not engage in thorough questioning to ensure they were getting all these details, why not? This is a basic, but crucial, question. If they did ask about this, what did the witnesses say?
Similarly, on the subject of unaddressed questions and whether terrorists were located in the warehouse, there is the issue of who three of the eight bodies belonged to. Only five names, all siblings from the Abu Jibba family, ages 10-22, are identified among the eight. Among those five is Hamdi Abu Jibba, age 22, who, according to his mother Sumaya, was killed by gunfire shortly before the warehouse was bombed.
CNN leaves unexplained who the other three bodies belonged to, giving only a few clues. Sumaya told CNN that “several others” were killed by gunfire alongside Hamdi moments before the alleged airstrike. We’re also told that among the bodies at the scene, there were “several adults curled up.” Indeed, three adult-sized bodies can be seen in a video provided by CNN which, based on appearances and attire, belonged to men. (CAMERA.org)
To Be Continued Next Week
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) is an international media-monitoring and educational organization founded in 1982 to promote accurate and unbiased coverage of Israel and the Middle East. CAMERA is a non-profit, tax-exempt, and non-partisan organization under section 501 (c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. To learn more or receive our newsletters please visit CAMERA.org
