Times of Israel, on Gaza, 25 October 2026

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IDF says strike in Gaza, reported to kill 3, was diverted to avoid harm ...

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Sunday, October 25, 2026

IDF says strike in Gaza, reported to kill 3, was diverted to avoid harm to bystanders

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

The Israeli military says its airstrike in Gaza City earlier today was diverted because of bystanders identified in the area.

The strike reportedly hit the Islamic University, killing three people.

Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture

The entry never says the strike came during a truce that had been in effect in Gaza for over a year. Without it, a reader takes the strike as routine military action, not an attack carried out under a ceasefire.

How we know

In response to a query by The Times of Israel, .

“Following the identification of uninvolved individuals in the area, the munition was diverted to minimize harm to them,” the IDF says.

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Read the original article on timesofisrael.com (opens in a new tab)
What we found (2)

The Times of Israel reports that an Israeli airstrike hit the Islamic University in Gaza City and killed three people, and it names the strike as Israel's own. It then gives the rest of the entry to the Israeli military's account of a Hamas target and a diverted munition. It never names who the dead were, never says they were Palestinians, and never says the strike came during a truce in effect for over a year.

  1. One side gets the space

    Minor

    “the IDF says it launched a strike on a Hamas military wing operative”

    Why this matters
    The outlet gives the Israeli military's statement of its target as the main account of the strike. No hospital, university staff or Gaza official is quoted.
    The impression it gives
    A reader comes away with the army's version of why the strike happened as the central fact, and the three dead as a side detail.
    The context
    Other coverage of the same strike drew on university staff and a local hospital for the deaths, and on Gaza's education ministry, which condemned the strike. None of these voices appears here.

    How we know

    Show it in the article

    “It is unclear if the target of the strike is among the dead.”

    Why this matters
    The outlet closes the entry by asking whether the army's stated target was killed. It takes the army's target claim as its starting point and says nothing about who the three dead actually were.
    The impression it gives
    A reader is left wondering whether the dead were the Hamas operative the army named, not who the people killed at the university were.
    The context
    The dead were three Palestinians whose funeral was held at Al Shifa Hospital. The army told another outlet that the strike was "currently under review", which this entry does not report.

    How we know

    Show it in the article

  2. Leaves out what changes the picture

    Minor

    What is missing

    The entry never says the strike came during a truce that had been in effect in Gaza for over a year. Without it, a reader takes the strike as routine military action, not an attack carried out under a ceasefire.

    How we know

    Show where it belongs

What it gets right

  • “The Israeli military says its airstrike in Gaza City”

    The outlet names the Israeli military as the party that carried out the strike, so the actor is not hidden.

  • “The strike reportedly hit the Islamic University, killing three people.”

    The outlet uses the word killing and ties the deaths directly to the strike, and it names the university that was hit.

How other outlets reported it

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