The story came from a woman who wanted to ‘arouse’ others to violence, an Al Jazeera employee says.
The news network Al Jazeera has retracted a story claiming that soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces were raping Palestinian Arabs at the Shifa hospital in Gaza. A former managing director for the network says they have debunked the story, which was first shared with them by a Palestinian woman in Gaza.
“It was revealed through Hamas investigations that the story of the rape of women … was fabricated,” the former managing director, Yasser Hilalah says on X.
The woman who made the claim, Jamila al-Hissi, told Al Jazeera in a video Sunday that she had seen IDF soldiers killing and raping women, and sending dogs after innocent civilians. She later told Mr. Hilalah that she had made up the story.
“The woman who spoke about rape justified her exaggeration and incorrect talk by saying that the goal was to arouse the nation’s fervor and brotherhood! As if more than thirty thousand martyrs, ninety thousand wounded, about a million displaced people, and comprehensive destruction were not enough!” Mr. Hilalah says.
The IDF immediately denied the woman’s claims when they were first made Sunday. Lieutenant Colonel Avichai Adraee, said that there “is no evidence for these allegations. One woman called and said she was calling from the so-called medical complex. No one knows who she is. She just claimed and claimed and lied.”
The officer said Al Jazeera was acting as just one of many “mouthpieces” of Hamas to spread lies about Israel and the IDF.
The United Nations has found that rape and sexual torture were deployed by Hamas against civilians and could still be happening to the hostages still held in Gaza. “Based on the information it gathered, the mission team found clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment has been committed against hostages and has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing against those still held in captivity,” said the UN special representative for sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten.
On Sunday, an IDF officer told the Jerusalem Post that an American state department official had made it clear to him that America believes Israeli soldiers are raping and sexually abusing Palestinian women.
Brigadier General Amir Avivi claimed that the American official accused Israeli soldiers of “systematically” sexually abusing Palestinian women. “It was a meeting that shook me. We sat there, talked about the situation, and suddenly she accused Israel of systematically sexually abusing Palestinian women,” he said.
“When we meet with a State Department official holding the Israeli-Palestinian portfolio, every word she utters, as far as I’m concerned, is an official US position,” he continued. “Ultimately, she is a government official.”