Israel-Hamas war: White House retracts Biden's claims on ‘confirmed pictures’ of children beheadings

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that he has seen "confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children" following reports that about 40 babies were killed by terror group Hamas. However, a White House spokesperson later clarified that neither Biden nor US officials have seen images or independently confirmed reports of beheaded children.

"I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children," said Biden while addressing Jewish community leaders at a roundtable in the White House and called the attacks by Hamas "a campaign of pure cruelty".

A White House spokesperson later told Washington Post that Biden and other US officials have not seen pictures or confirmed such reports independently. The US President's remarks were based on media reports and claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's spokesperson, the White House said.

On Tuesday, journalists were reportedly invited to survey the scene of devastation in Kfar Aza, the community massacred by Hamas terrorist infiltrators. As per local Israeli outlet i24News, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers discovered about 40 dead babies, some decapitated.

“It’s not a war,” General Itai Veruv, head of the IDF’s Depth Command, said, as per the news portal. “It’s not a battlefield. You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms, and how the terrorists kill them. It’s not a war… it’s a massacre.”

Separately, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday showed photos of babies killed by Hamas to visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who landed in Tel Aviv earlier in the day to express America's support to the Jewish state. In a tweet, Netanyahu's office said that he showed Blinken some of the "horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters". The images include charred and blood-soaked bodies of babies.

Israel-Hamas war

Hamas carried out a barrage of air strikes in Southern Israel on Saturday. In response to it, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched multiple attacks targeting Hamas' key infrastructure.

Reportedly, over 2,000 people have been killed in Israel and Gaza in the biggest escalation in decades between the two sides.

Meanwhile, Biden termed Saturday's attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas as the "deadliest day" for Jews since the Holocaust.

"This attack was a campaign of pure cruelty — not just hate, but pure cruelty — against the Jewish people.  And I would argue it’s the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust — the deadliest day since the Holocaust, one of the worst chapters in human history that reminded us all that — that expression I learned from my dad early on: 'Silence is complicity'," he said.  

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