US ambassador to Israel denies Israeli shootings at Gaza aid site

Despite local officials confirming three people dead and 35 others injured in the overnight hours as Israeli forces shot at Palestinians collecting aid in Rafah, the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Monday that the reports are fabricated.

“Without verification of any source other than Hamas and its collaborators, the New York Times, CNN, and Associated Press reported that a number of people seeking to receive humanitarian food boxes from the Gaza Humanitarian Fund were shot or killed by the Israeli Defense Forces,” Huckabee said in a statement cited by The Times of Israel.

“These reports were FALSE. Drone video and first-hand accounts clearly showed that there were no injuries, no fatalities, no shooting, no chaos,” Huckabee said, despite a multitude of eyewitness videos showing the opposite. 

“The only source for these misleading, exaggerated, and utterly fabricated stories came from Hamas sources, which are designed to fan the flames of antisemitic hate that is arguably contributing to violence against Jews in the United States,” he added. 

“Media sources who willingly parrot these libelous allegations should recant their fake news stories, apologize and pledge to practice actual reporting of fact instead of engaging in dangerous propaganda that assists the terror group Hamas."