Sunday was one of the deadliest for Gaza in recent weeks. First, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 22 people, including 15 children, at a UN school in Nuseirat sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians; the same school was going to be used as a polio vaccination site the following day. Later that evening, another Israeli attack hit displaced people’s tents outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza strip, sparking a fire that burned four people alive and wounded more than 40 others, many of whom remain in a critical condition.

Soon after the fire broke out, videos began widely circulating on social media, disseminated in part by Gazan citizen journalists such as Saleh Aljafarawi. One such video showed the silhouette of a man, arms outstretched, as he burned alive in his tent. That man was later identified as Sha’ban Al-Dalou, a 19-year-old software engineering student at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. His mother, who was also at the tent camp, burned to death alongside him.

“I watched people being burnt alive in front of me,” said Aljafarawi in a video he posted to Instagram. “Nobody could do anything to stop it. Men, women, children – all being burnt alive. I saw their souls leave them right before my eyes.” Several online commentators described the hospital fire as the most disturbing scene to date of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The next morning, several non-western outlets were leading with the story, not shying away from its more shocking aspects. Al Jazeera’s homepage was taken up with the headline: “Horror show after twin Israeli attacks on Gaza civilian shelters.” Meanwhile, major Indian news site Oneindia ran the headline: “IDF Burns Palestinians Alive in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital Bombing”. English-language Turkish outlet Turkiye Today ran a similar story.

By contrast, most western media outlets tended to focus on four IDF soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone strike on an army base south of Haifa the same day (over 60 more were injured) – a legitimate strike on a military target. When outlets did cover the Al-Aqsa fire, it was usually given less prominence, and its more gruesome aspects went unmentioned. Here’s how the media covered the hospital attack in the hours and days proceeding it.

Crickets.

While most major publications gave some sort of coverage to Israel’s Sunday attacks on Gaza, some avoided it completely, including the Times and the Sun. The outlets did, however, find space for in-depth reporting about Hezbollah’s drone strike.

Similarly, the Daily Mail did not have capacity to write about the Al-Aqsa fire, instead opting for two in-depth pieces about the dead Israeli soldiers. It did, however, release a short video about the inferno, entitled: “Three dead after Israel strike hits displaced Gazans at hospital”.

Over in the US, the Wall Street Journal dedicated several articles to the four dead Israeli soldiers, one of which embedded a video of Sunday’s attacks on Gaza entitled: “Fire Breaks out in Gaza Tent Encampment After Israel Targets Militants”. The video made no mention of victims burning alive, or the fact that the tents were housing displaced civilians in a hospital compound.

Broadcasters.

The world section of the Sky News homepage gave prominence to Hezbollah’s drone attack, including an analysis article and a news report entitled “Israel names soldiers killed in base attack – as ‘23 die’ in Gaza school strike.” The report was illustrated with a thumbnail of the four dead Israelis.

I imagine that Sky News will similarly report on the identities of those burned alive last night at Al Aqsa hospital, not to mention the civilians killed by Israeli strikes on Beirut.

Because if we don’t see photos of those killed by the IDF, or learn their names, what can we… https://t.co/qiWLlsUjg8

— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) October 14, 2024

A since-deleted Sky News tweet read: “Israel has named the four teenage victims of a Hezbollah drone strike on a military base – as at least 23 people were reportedly killed in an attack on a central Gaza school,” highlighting the youth of the Israeli victims but not the far greater number of dead Palestinian children.

On its broadcast news shows, Sky News ran a segment on the Israeli soldiers, emphasising that they were all 19 years old. It did not mention the fact that Sha’ban Al-Dalou was also 19.

Sky did not run any dedicated news articles about the Al-Aqsa fire, but its Middle East live feed did share a short post entitled “Four killed and dozens burned in Israeli strike on hospital tent camp.” Although this post made no mention of people being burned alive, it was included in the day’s key points section at the top of the live feed.

Far from acknowledging the Palestinians burnt alive last night, Sky’s captioned this picture as if it’s a strike on Israel pic.twitter.com/Nqj6shgxtL

— Hamza M Syed (@HamzaMSyed) October 14, 2024

CNN’s Middle East page was also dominated by the Israeli victims of Hezbollah’s drone attack, with three dedicated stories. Like Sky News, CNN’s only news about the Al-Aqsa hospital fire was delivered via two short posts on its Middle East live feed. The first focused on casualty numbers, entitled “Israeli airstrike kills 4 and injures 40 at hospital courtyard in Gaza.” The second headline gave more detail: “Fire from Israeli strike in Gaza consumed people before it consumed anything else, witness says.”

The BBC.

The morning after the hospital attack, the BBC’s world news homepage was dominated by the headline: “Deadly Hezbollah drone attack on army base shocks Israel.”

For most of Monday, the key points section at the top of the BBC’s Middle East War feed summarised the main stories as follows, again prioritising the Hezbollah attack:

• A Hezbollah drone attack killed four Israeli soldiers at an Israeli army base south of Haifa on Sunday night.
• It’s one of the deadliest attacks against Israel by Hezbollah in over a year of fighting.
• In Lebanon, the health ministry says 51 people were killed by Israeli strikes across the country on Sunday.
• In Gaza, Hamas-run authorities say an Israeli attack on a school used as a shelter killed 22 people on Sunday, including 15 children.

Later the same day, the BBC published a news piece specifically about the Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah’s drone attack. While it did not do the same for the Gazan victims of Sunday evening, it did include a slightly longer post about the Al-Aqsa hospital attack within its live feed, titled: “‘I swear there’s no safety,’ says woman in Gaza after air strike.” The post included distressing details: “We were unable to pull them out. A human being burning alive in front of your eyes, and you can’t rescue them.” The BBC also published a live feed post including videos showing the aftermath of the hospital attack.

Agencies.

The first major outlet to cover Sunday’s events in Israel and Gaza was the news agency Associated Press (AP). AP’s initial article (the basis for this piece in another outlet), headlined “Hezbollah attack on Israeli base kills 4”, focused on the dead Israeli soldiers, moving onto the Nuseirat school bombing midway through the piece.

AP ended the article on the hospital attack, writing: “Meanwhile, explosions hit early Monday outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah. Tents caught fire, causing panic among dozens of people, and some people carried the injured into the hospital.” A few hours later it updated the article, changing the headline to: “Israel says 4 soldiers killed by Hezbollah drone attack while Israeli strike in Gaza leaves 20 dead.”

Progressive papers.

The Guardian published a news report about the Hezbollah drone attack. It did not do the same for the Gazan victims of Israel’s attacks that same evening.

The Guardian also published a short post about the hospital attack on its live feed, but made no mention of people being burned alive. Nor was there any mention of this in the Guardian video about the fire, entitled: “Gaza: tents engulfed by flames next to al-Aqsa hospital after Israeli airstrike.”

The Independent published a news report about the Israeli victims of the Hezbollah drone attack shortly after the incident. Half a day later it published a news report about the Al-Aqsa attack, entitled: “Israeli strike on Gaza hospital tent camp kills four and ignites a fire that burns dozens.”

US papers.

On Monday, the New York Times (NYT) and Washington Post focused their Middle East sections on the Al-Aqsa hospital fire and Nuseirat school attack – the only major western newspapers to do so.

Alongside an NYT video about the fire – “Israel Attacks Tent Camp at Gaza hospital” – the paper published two articles about the attack, one titled “Survivors of Gaza hospital Blaze Say They Are Living a ‘Recurring Nightmare.” The NYT dedicated just one news report to the Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah’s drones – an unusual reversal of focus among western outlets.

The Post published two dedicated reports about the Al-Aqsa fire, the first entitled “Israel strikes Gaza’s al-Aqsa hospital grounds.” The first paragraph of the report goes on to explain that among the “women and children” who were killed and injured, “a widely shared video of the fierce blaze appeared to show at least one person on a bed burning alive while onlookers shouted” – making it one of the only articles among the Western media to include this detail.

The Post’s other report had the headline: “Israeli strike at Gaza’s al-Aqsa hospital burns tents, killing at least 4.” The publication dedicated one news report to the four Israeli soldiers.

The Telegraph.

The Telegraph published several pieces about Hezbollah’s attack, including one entitled: “Pictured: Four teenage Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah [drones].”

While the publication gave more focus to Sunday’s dead Israeli soldiers, it also ran one of the most candid stories about the Al-Aqsa hospital attack, headlined: “Gazans burnt alive in tent camp after Israeli air strike,” coupled with a standfirst that read: “Israel says hospital compound it hit housed a command centre for Hamas terrorists, as videos show injured children.”

This made the Telegraph the only major western media outlet to run a headline about the Al-Aqsa attack that explicitly detailed how Israel had burned displaced Palestinians alive as they sheltered beside one of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals.