Bennett Rejects Hamas, CNN, BBC Claims Israel Fired on Civilians Near Aid Center

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett denounced claims Saturday by Hamas, which were repeated by CNN and the BBC, that Israel opened fire on civilians near a new U.S.-run aid distribution center in Gaza.

Hamas said that Israeli fire killed 22 people, later raising that death toll to 31. Both the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that they were unaware of any such deaths.

The IDF said it was “currently unaware of injuries caused by IDF fire within the Humanitarian Aid distribution side,” without specifically denying that it may have fired, for whatever reason, adding that an investigation was ongoing.

GHF said in a statement: “Aid was distributed without incident. Reports of injuries and fatalities are completely false and fabricated. Please do not be duped by them. Several major media outlets have been tricked into reporting these false reports. Thank you to the media outlets that have contacted us to confirm.”

Bennett, a former special operations soldier who appears frequently in international media, did not hold back:

Hamas and the United Nations (UN) have been desperate to discredit the new U.S. aid effort, which threatens to undermine Hamas, which steals UN aid and control over aid to maintain control over the local Palestinian population.

A report Friday said that Palestinians receiving American aid were shocked to discover that it was free, having been forced by Hamas to pay for aid that the UN was supposed to provide free of charge.

U.S. aid also helps Israel’s ongoing military operation to remove Hamas and its terror and tunnel networks from the Gaza Strip, while increasing pressure on the group to release its remaining Israeli hostages.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.