An errant Palestinian rocket, not an Israeli air strike, is likely to have killed the baby of a BBC reporter during fighting in Gaza last November, a UN report indicates.
The findings challenge the widely believed story behind an image that became a symbol of what Palestinians said was Israeli aggression.
Omar al-Masharawi, an 11-month-old boy, was killed on November 14, the first day of fighting.
An Associated Press photograph showed Omar’s anguished father, Jihad al-Masharawi, clutching his dead child wrapped in a shroud. Palestinians blamed Israel, and the image was broadcast around the world and widely shared on social media.
Now a report from the UN office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says the baby was “killed by what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel”.
Gaza’s rulers, the militant Islamic group Hamas, whose fighters fired most of the rockets into Israel during the conflict, gave no response.
BBC officials had no immediate comment, and Jihad al-Masharawi said he couldn’t discuss the issue. An Israeli military spokesman said they could not confirm or deny whether they hit the al-Masharawi house.
Matthias Behnke, head of OHCHR office for the Palestinian territories, cautioned he couldn’t “unequivocally conclude” that the death was caused by an errantly fired Palestinian rocket. He said information gathered from eyewitnesses led them to report that “it appeared to be attributable to a Palestinian rocket.”
He said Palestinian militants were firing rockets at Israel not far from the al-Masharawi home. Behnke said the area was targeted by Israeli airstrikes, but the salvo that hit the al-Masharawi home was “markedly different.”
The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said it still held Israel responsible for Omar’s death.
The PCHR has condemned Hamas fighters and other militants in the past for errantly-fired rockets that have killed Palestinians, including during the November clash.
The baby was killed hours following the eruption of fighting after Israel killed a top Hamas militant leader in an air strike.
Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes, saying it targeted militant centres and fighters in Gaza. Palestinian militants indiscriminately fired hundreds of rockets and mortar shells toward Israel.
During the eight-day conflict, about 160 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed.