BAC News: Reuters Reports from Rafah

An interrupted in depth interview

Feb 17, 2024

Published: 2024-02-08

BAC News: Previous episodes 1 and 2.

Announcer: Tonight, Special correspondent Reuters brings us an in depth report from Rafa, Palestine.

Reuters: Israeli forces raided the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza on Thursday, as footage posted online showed chaos, shouting and the sound of shooting in darkened corridors that were filled with dust and smoke.

Announcer: Wow. Somebody got footage out, did they? What, exactly, do you mean by 'raided', Reuters?

Chyron:

WARNING: This article contains footage that may distress some readers.

Reuters: Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described the raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as "precise and limited", and said it was based on credible information that Hamas was hiding in the facility, had kept hostages there and that bodies of hostages may still be there.

A spokesperson for Hamas denied Israel's allegations, calling them "lies".

Announcer: Well, Reuters, Hagari and co. do have form for their statements being total fabrications. I presume you recall all of the false, headline grabbing, war atrocity propaganda like the beheaded babies and the mass rape.

R: Health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave said Israel had forced out displaced people and families of medical staff sheltering in Nasser Hospital.

A: Hang on, Reuters. Are you saying that the IDF is threatening doctors, nurses and patients in a hospital in a war zone?

R: This latest conflict began on October 7 last year, when Hamas launched a surprise terror attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

A: Back up, Reuters. We are talking about war crimes here. We already know the Zionist tallies. Are there ...

R: The air and ground offensive launched by Israel in response has devastated the small, crowded Gaza Strip, killing more than 28,600 people — also mostly civilians, according to health authorities — and forcing nearly all its inhabitants from their homes.

A: Right on, Reuters. We're getting on the same page here, apart from the superfluous, softening 'also'. Think you not that Jordan's King Abdulah framed the numbers more meaningfully in his press conference with US President Biden a few days ago. There are almost 100 000 dead, injured or buried under the rubble.

R: The United Nations' humanitarian office had said on Wednesday that Nasser Hospital was besieged by Israeli forces, and alleged that sniper fire at the facility was endangering the lives of medics, patients and thousands of displaced people.

The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said people ordered by Israel to evacuate the hospital faced an impossible choice to stay "and become a potential target" or leave "into an apocalyptic landscape" of bombings.

A: Oh shit. The IDF are sniping at, and have sent armed forces into, a hospital, terrorized those within or sheltering around it, and are forcing them to choose between death in a hospital or death in the open. Are you seeing a pattern, Reuters?

R: The fighting at Nasser Hospital comes as Israel faces growing international pressure to show restraint in its Gaza war, after vowing to press its offensive into Rafah, the last relatively safe place for civilians in the enclave.

A: Aaaah. So the 'raid' involved 'fighting' did it? Well, our legal team believe that troops terrorizing doctors and patients is a war crime, and shooting at them is doubly so. The IDF are forcing doctors and refugees from the last relatively safe place, did you say?

A: As for that 'restraint', Reuters, our opinion survey shows that people are sick and tired of calls for restraint and want this to stop. Backing up to King Abdulah, what is required is a permanent ceasefire and the immediate delivery of a huge amount of food, water, fuel, blankets, shelter, and medical supplies.

[R provides more general, soft-ball description of the 'conflict' already adjudged by the International Court of Justice as a prima face case of genocide.]

R: Israel accuses Hamas of regularly using hospitals, ambulances and other medical facilities for military purposes, and has aired footage taken by its troops that it says show tunnels containing weapons below some hospitals.

The Israeli military later said it had apprehended a number of suspects at the hospital and that its operations there were continuing.

A: [Hand to earpiece] Editor, cut this lunatic for spewing more genocidal Zionist talking points.

Editor: [Cut to station insignia]

A: We seemed to lose special correspondent Reuters there, but he did finish with:

R: At one point in a video, gunshots ring out and a doctor shouts: "Is there anyone still inside? There is gunfire, there is gunfire — heads down".

A: Reuters, that puts paid to your use of 'alleged' above for the UN's humanitarian office’s description doesn't it. 'Credible' would the most you could do to undermine their statement, wouldn’t it?

R: Another man in a video said the Israeli army had surrounded the hospital and nobody could get out.

The World Health Organization has previously said half the medical staff of Nasser Hospital have already fled.

A: We conclude this bulletin with an apology for the loss of transmission, and to continue to cause you emotional turmoil.

We, like you, hope that world leaders will act to prevent the continuation of these real atrocities and war crimes being committed against children, doctors and second generation refugees. We, like you, feel the urgent need for peace, humanitarian aid and then justice.

Good night.

Afterwards at the Local

Announcer: Waddaya think?

Editor: Excellent, though I'll get some shit for pulling that idiot off air.

A: C'mon, he was laying it thick.

E: Depends on the legal team and 'fair and balanced' versus management. But, it was the right thing to do. And, I'm liking the synergy. I knew what you wanted the moment I saw you raise your hand. I kept the idiot online to pull the end of the report, which finally got back to the actual reporting after he would have driven any sane person away with the propaganda. But, that served for the end of show.

Great wrap.

A: Thanks. Are we making a difference?

E: Your wrap did.

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Sources

Israel raids main Gaza hospital as concerns grow for civilians in path of looming Rafah offensive, Reuters, ABC News, 2024-02-16

Culture

The Man's Too Strong, Dire Straights (from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms), uploaded by The Music Channel on 2016-10-07