The White House has walked back President Biden’s claim that he saw “confirmed pictures” of terrorists beheading children in Israel, saying the president was actually referring to media reports out of the Jewish state.
“It matters that Americans see what’s happening. I mean, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I never really thought that I would see confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children,” Mr. Biden said Wednesday during a roundtable with Jewish leaders.
The White House later said that neither Mr. Biden nor U.S. officials have seen images or confirmed reports of beheaded children. Administration officials said Mr. Biden was actually referring to reports from Israel about beheaded children and citing several media reports of beheadings.
A White House official said the president was referring to comments by a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said Wednesday that babies and toddlers were “decapitated” in a southern Israeli kibbutz.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the beheadings in a video posted to X on Thursday morning.
Media outlets had reported that the bodies of Israeli babies, including some with their heads cut off, had been found by IDF soldiers in a southern Israeli kibbutz. However, U.S. intelligence had yet to confirm the beheadings.
The bodies were discovered among burned-out houses and other carnage after Hamas terrorists attacked the Kfar Aza kibbutz near the Gaza border.
In a video posted on X, an Israeli journalist reporting from the scene said soldiers walking through the community discovered about 40 babies, including some that were decapitated.
The IDF were removing bodies from the area when they found the children’s remains, according to the report. They are using bones to attempt to identify the victims.
“You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers, in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms and how the terrorist kills them. It’s not a war, it’s not a battlefield. It’s a massacre, it’s a terror activity,” Israeli Maj. Gen. Itai Veruv said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.