By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The Washington Post newspaper has admitted it was too quick to publish reports by Hamas officials on Sunday that the IDF shot and killed at least 31 civilians seeking humanitarian aid.

The publication acknowledged on X that it did not attempt to verify Hamas Health Ministry reports about the incident.

“The article failed to make clear if attributing the deaths to Israel was the position of the Gaza Health Ministry or a fact verified by The Post,” the paper said on X, adding, “…The Post didn’t give proper weight to Israel’s denial and gave improper certitude about what was known about any Israeli role in the shootings.”

“The early version fell short of Post standards of fairness and should not have been published in that form,” the Post concluded.

The Post published an updated version of the story in which it mentions that 31 Palestinians were killed while seeking aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

It also included Israel’s denial of accusations by Hamas officials that IDF soldiers fired on the civilians and killed them.

“It is false and fabricated. All aid was distributed today without incident,” the GHF told US TV Fox News. “No injuries or fatalities as noted in our daily update sent out earlier today. We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated.”

The footage showed aid distribution carried out without any disruption.

Following the incident, IDF released a statement: “The IDF is currently unaware of injuries caused by IDF fire within the Humanitarian Aid distribution site. The matter is still under review.”

The GHF, backed by the United States in cooperation with Israel’s military, said that it had distributed 4.6 million meals in six days.

“We’re scaling up as quickly as possible, but the truth is stark: for every truck we successfully bring into our network, other humanitarian groups are being looted before reaching those in need,” The GHF said.

The GHF, which has been criticized for not establishing a sufficient number of aid distribution centers, states that it has been scaling up its operations.

Last Thursday, the group opened a third distribution site in central Gaza and will soon open an additional center in Khan Younis.

The GHF began its operations in Rafah, southern Gaza, and says it will continue to open more centers in the central and northern areas of Gaza