Hamas demands retraction of 'beheading' claims following French newspaper report

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Hamas demanded Thursday that those who accepted Tel Aviv's claims that the group's fighters beheaded children during an Oct. 7 attack on Israel, to retract their positions following an investigation by the Le Monde newspaper.

The French newspaper reported Wednesday that the Israeli government's press office informed it that "no beheading took place" in the Kfar Azza settlement or any other location targeted by Palestinian groups during the Oct. 7 attacks.

The Palestinian resistance group responded by saying: "Le Monde's investigation into the false Israeli propaganda which included an admission from the press office of the Israeli government regarding the invalidity of the narrative (beheading of children), is a new step in exposing the fascist behavior of the occupation.''

It said that Israel "relied on exploiting these narratives and spreading them to incite against our Palestinian people and justify the atrocities in the Gaza Strip."

"In light of these facts that are gradually unfolding, the countries, governments, and institutions that adopted the false Israeli narrative should = immediately retract their positions against our people and its resistance,'' it said. "Media outlets that engaged in this propaganda without adhering to the principles of journalistic professionalism should apologize for their contribution to tarnishing the struggle of our Palestinian people.''

Le Monde noted that Israel did nothing to combat misleading information about the narrative of beheading 40 Israeli children, often attempting to exploit it instead of denying it.

Israel has pounded the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack in early October by Hamas which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 75,700 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war, now in day 181, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul