The Palestinian Authority has taken down the message it published last night (Sunday), according to which Hamas is not responsible for the massacre at the nature festival in Re'im, rather Israeli helicopter gunships are the ones who murdered Israelis from the air.
Despite the deletion, the Authority did not issue an apology or clarification for the spread of the false information. It has now been reported that the deletion followed a loud conversation, which included shouting between senior PA officials and senior US government officials.
As a reminder, the Hamas announcement caused a lot of anger in the Israeli discourse, especially in light of the talk and the American spirit, which wants to hand over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority and its leader - Abu Mazen.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also quick to condemn the announcement and more than hinted that he would not give the strip to the Palestinian Authority: "On the day after we have eliminated Hamas, we will not allow whoever runs the civilian government in Gaza to deny terrorism, support terrorism, pay for terrorism and educate his children for terrorism and the elimination of State of Israel."
"The Palestinian Foreign Ministry denied that Hamas was the one who carried out the terrible massacre at the party in Re'im, and blamed it on Israel," Netanyahu wrote, "Not only has Abu Mazen refused to condemn the terrible massacre for 44 days, now his people are denying this massacre and turning the blame on Israel. Holocaust denier Abu Mazen now also denies the Hamas-ISIS massacre."
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who just a few days ago said that the PA should be the one to rule Gaza after the war, hastened to agree with Netanyahu's announcement and retract what he said: "I agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu's firm condemnation of the abominable and false announcement by the Palestinian Foreign Ministry. Those who deny the massacre, makes himself an accomplice to the most terrible crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust."
In the deleted official announcement, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that "a preliminary investigation by the Israeli police proved that Israeli helicopters fired on civilians on October 7, while they were participating in a nature party." It was also written that "the Air Force left a lot of destruction in the area and in some settlements, after the 'Hannibal procedure' was applied, which allows the police and the army to kill everyone."
"Relying on this," the authority added, "the ministry believes that the result of the investigation casts doubt on the Israeli version regarding the destruction and killings caused in the area, and in particular with regard to the photos and video clips that reflect the destruction and fires that broke out in many houses as a result of the bombing."