IDF Spokesperson Effie Defrin on Sunday urged the international community not to believe fake rumors and fake news being spread by the Hamas terrorist organization.
His comments came after the IDF debunked Hamas’s claims that IDF forces fired toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip.
In a video message from Rafah, Defrin stated, “We already launched or distributed more than 16,000 packages of food to the people, in addition to more than 1,000 trucks already [that have] entered Gaza loaded with humanitarian aid. Hamas is doing its best, is almost to stop us from doing so. It is spreading rumors, fake news.”
Hamas, warned Defrin, “is trying bluntly and violently to stop the people of Gaza from reaching those distribution centers. I urge you not to believe every rumor spread by Hamas. We will investigate each and one of those incidents and each and one of those allegations.”
“We are a professional military and we will do our best in order to dismantle Hamas, to release our hostages and to [disengage] the population of Gaza from Hamas and from Hamas leadership,” concluded the IDF Spokesperson.
The IDF earlier released the findings from its initial investigation into the reports on alleged IDF fire toward Gazan residents, saying that the findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false.
The IDF clarified that it is cooperating with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and international aid organizations to enable the distribution of aid to the Gazan residents, and not to Hamas.
"Hamas does everything in its power to undermine food distribution efforts in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that starves and endangers the population in order to preserve its control over the Gaza Strip. As part of its brutal behavior and its attempts to disrupt humanitarian aid, Hamas directly harms the residents of Gaza," the IDF stated.
The IDF called on the media to be cautious with information published by the Hamas terrorist organization, as proven in several previous incidents.
A short time later, the GHF released security camera footage from the aid distribution site during the time of the alleged incident. The video evidence revealed that no such attack occurred, effectively debunking the claims made by the Palestinian Arab sources.
Despite there being proof of the incident not having occurred, many mainstream media outlets continue to report the claims as if they were fact.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shavuot in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)