Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari is a spokesman for the IDF. He has just conducted a live briefing on what the IDF found in the basement of Gaza’s Rantisi Hospital. The briefing commences in English at about 1:15. It is well worth your time. I urge interested viewers to check it out.

Although the AP operates inside Gaza with its own reporters — indeed, the AP officed in a building used by Hamas until the IDF destroyed it in May 2021 — the IDF has proved itself over and over a more reliable purveyor of relevant information than the AP. This morning the AP disseminated a story by AP Gaza “producer” Wafaa Shurafa, whose byline ran with that of the AP’s Cairo-based Samy Magdy. The story has apparently been removed in lieu of this one by AP Gaza “senior producer” Najib Jobain and the AP’s Cairo-based Jack Jefrey. The Shurafaa/Magdy cast a cloud of unknowing over the Hamas way of war:

Israel says the [Shifa] hospital is the prime example of its allegation that Hamas uses human shields, claiming that the militants have a command center and other military infrastructure in and beneath the medical compound. It has not provided photos or videos to back up these claims. Hamas and hospital staff deny them.

The Jobain/Jefrey story put it this way:

Israel says Hamas shields itself among civilians, and that the hospital, Gaza’s largest, is a prime example. It says the militants have a command center in and beneath the medical compound and released maps showing where it says they are located in the complex. But it has provided little evidence.

Both Hamas and Shifa hospital staff deny the Israeli allegations.

Maybe the Hagari briefing can clue in the AP. Then again, maybe not.

The AP Morning Wire newsletter sent out the Shurafa/Magdy story quoted above along with the photo below.

Caption: “This photo released by Dr. Marawan Abu Saada shows prematurely born Palestinian babies in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. (Dr. Marawan Abu Saada via AP)”

Is it just me, or do you have to be a cynic to doubt that the photo depicts “prematurely born Palestinian babies…”?