JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli military denies Hamas claims that an Israeli airstrike claimed the lives of a pregnant Gaza woman and her 14-month-old child.
The woman and her child were killed by a misfired Hamas rocket, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Ronen Manelis said in a tweet on Sunday morning,
“It is the terrorist organization’s propaganda at its best,” Manelis said in the tweet.
More than 450 rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel over 24 hours beginning on Saturday morning at 10. The Israeli military launched 220 retaliatory airstrikes on Hamas and Islamic Jihad military targets in Gaza, including the building housing the offices of Hamas and an Islamic Jihad terror tunnel stretching from southern Gaza into Israel.
Six Palestinians are reported to have been killed in the airstrikes, including two Islamic jihad terrorists, the terror group said in an announcement on Sunday morning.
Yesterday, Palestinian weapons caused the tragic death of a mother in Gaza and her baby. Hamas blamed Israel. Journalists amplified the lie. Our assessment indicates that the incident had nothing to do with IDF strikes.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 5, 2019
