WASHINGTON – President Biden said Wednesday that he had seen “confirmed images of terrorists beheading children” in southern Israel following reports that up to 40 babies were massacred over the weekend near the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, but the White House then backed off the commander. in the chief’s complaint.
“I never thought I would see and confirm images of terrorists beheading children. I never thought I would do it anyway,” Biden, 80, told leaders of Jewish groups at the White House on Wednesday.
But neither the president nor US officials have seen independently confirmed images or reports of beheaded children, a White House spokesperson later clarified, according to the Washington Post.
The White House says Biden based his comment on claims made by a spokesman for Israel’s prime minister and on media reports from the Jewish state.
The sickening reports emerged on Tuesday when the Israeli military gave journalists tours of areas devastated by Hamas’ surprise attack on Saturday morning, which left more than 1,200 Israeli civilians and troops dead and around 150 reportedly kidnapped, with at least At least 22 Americans dead and another 17 still missing. for.
A senior White House national security aide told reporters immediately after the event that he had not seen the footage Biden was referring to.
President Biden said Wednesday that he has seen “confirmed images of terrorists beheading children” in southern Israel.ZUMAPRESS.com
Another White House official referred the Post to comments by Tal Heinrich, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told CNN on Wednesday that babies and young children were found “decapitated” in the community of Kfar Aza.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces separately told The Intercept on Wednesday that “we cannot officially confirm it, but you can assume it happened and believe the report.”
Meanwhile, Yossi Landau, an official with Israel’s volunteer civil emergency response organization Zaka, told CBS News that he personally saw the bodies of children and babies who were decapitated.
Follow the Post’s coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas
“I saw a lot more things that can’t be described right now, because it’s so hard to describe,” he said.
Nicole Zedek, a television reporter for Tel Aviv-based i24NEWS, first reported on the boy’s beheading allegations on Tuesday and said in a radio interview on Wednesday that she is shocked by the initial public skepticism.
“I mean, they cut off babies’ heads. That’s what they found when they got there. As horrible as it is, I wish it wasn’t true,” Zedek said.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces separately told The Intercept on Wednesday that “we cannot officially confirm it, but you can assume it happened and believe the report.” ZUMAPRESS.com Israeli rescue workers work to remove bodies near a destroyed police station. on Wednesday.REUTERS
TO disgusting image The photograph circulated online by the IDF on Wednesday showed an Israeli child’s blood-stained mattress with a blood stain on the wall and a stream of red covering the footrest.
Biden said he would not take any questions from reporters at the event, but preemptively responded to one he said he expected to be yelled at about his efforts to bring home the unknown number of American captives taken to Gaza.
“If I told you, I couldn’t bring them home,” Biden said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted this image with the caption: “Hamas is worse than ISIS.”Benjamin Netanyahu / twitter
The worst attack on Israel in 50 years: how we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after seizing the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fire rockets at the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches largest attack on Israel in 50 years.
More than 1,200 Israelis have been killed, more than 3,000 wounded and at least 100 taken hostage, with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli cities. .
Hamas terrorists were seen taking women hostage and parading them down the street in gruesome videos.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and promised that Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials report that at least 1,050 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,000 injured.
“Friends, there are many things we are doing… I have not given up hope of bringing these people home.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at the regular White House briefing on Wednesday that the number of Americans who “we believe are hostages is very small, it’s very small, like less than a handful. But that could change over time.”
Biden has dodged questions from the press elsewhere since Hamas’ shocking attack on Israel. She faces growing bipartisan calls from Congress to reverse her decision to authorize the release of $6 billion to Iran, which allegedly helped plan the attack.
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