The White House on Thursday shut down a reporter’s question concerning the authenticity of photos released earlier in the day showing dead Israeli children butchered by Hamas.
The exchange came during the White House press briefing when National Security Counsel spokesperson John Kirby was asked if the U.S. had independently verified the photos posted on X earlier in the day by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showing the bloodied body of one baby and the burned corpses of two other children.
“I don’t think we’re going to be in the business of having to validate of approve those images. They’re coming from the prime minister of Israel, and we have absolutely no reason to doubt their authenticity,” Kirby said, appearing disturbed at the suggestion the photos could be fake.
Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House October 12, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
In his post sharing the gruesome images, Netanyahu wrote, “Here are some of the photos Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Warning: These are horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters. Hamas is inhuman. Hamas is ISIS.”
In a Thursday press conference amid his trip to Israel, Blinken described the images shown to him by Netanyahu as “beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less God forbid, experience.”
“A baby, an infant, riddled with bullets. Soldiers beheaded. Young people burned alive. I could go on, but it’s simply depravity in the worst imaginable way,” he added.
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A picture taken on October 11, 2023, shows covered bodies at kibbutz Beeri near the border with Gaza, the site of an infiltration by Palestinian militants on the weekend. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
Despite evidence to the contrary, Hamas has denied it murdered children in the fashion shown in the photos.
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) came upon the horrific scene after Hamas terrorists infiltrated Kfar Aza and other communities in southern Israel on Saturday. The soldiers found about 200 dead, including 40 dead babies, some of whom they said were decapitated, local Israeli media reported.
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As of Thursday, more than 1,200 people have been reported killed in Israel from the attack, which was launched on Saturday.
Fox News Greg Norman contributed to this report.
