A Daily Mail article promoting the accusation that the IDF shot a Palestinian girl in the chest (“Girl, 10, ‘shot in chest by Israeli forces outside United Nations office in Gaza’ after airstrike killed four aid workers”, Dec. 2) was notable in that we couldn’t find any other report about the incident elsewhere in the media – including at the Guardian.
The dearth of additional media coverage is likely due to the fact that the piece, written by Ed Holt and Olivia Christie, seemed to be based entirely on one post shared on X by Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza.
As you can see, Wittall didn’t explicitly blame the IDF for the girl’s injury – though that was the take-away. The OCHA head didn’t offer any additional evidence.
Here are the opening paragraphs of the Daily Mail article, which, as you can see, includes no original reporting – relying entirely on the one social media post:
A 10-year-old Palestinian girl has allegedly been shot in the chest by IDF forces close to the United Nations office in Gaza.
The reported shooting comes after four aid workers were killed in Israeli strikes in the terrority on Saturday.
A shocking picture appears to show the child on her back on the ground surrounded by UN workers in blue vests after it was claimed she was shot in the chest while crossing an Israeli checkpoint in the south of Gaza.
The post said that workers from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stabilised the girl before they took her to a hospital.
The article then pivots to another topic, meaning that the incendiary headline, photo and opening four paragraphs above is all there is. Further, there is no indication that the reporters reached out to the IDF for a comment on the story, which is standard practice even for the most egregiously anti-Israel publications.
So, we contacted the IDF Spokesperson Unit, and asked for a comment on the Daily Mail story. After looking into the allegations, they sent us the following:
After reviewing the mentioned case, it appears that no shots were fired at the girl mentioned in the case, and no signs were found indicating that she was injured as a result of an IDF action.
We contacted the Daily Mail journalists, asking that the article be amended to include the IDF’s denial.
h/t Rolene
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