Two killed in Gaza City strike, IDF says it targeted car with Hamas terrorists

The double standard

The article names the Palestinian dead as "Palestinians" killed by an IDF strike but immediately grants the IDF's unverified characterisation of those same dead as "Hamas terrorists" without qualification, applying a higher standard of certainty to the military's claim than to the victims' identities.

How it builds, in Gaza City strike paragraph

1. 1

   Deaths attributed to IDF, sourced to medical staff

   At least two Palestinians were killed, and 13 were wounded, in an IDF strike on a vehicle in Gaza City on Sunday, according to medical staff in the area.

   Claim attributed to a named category of source; actor (IDF) is named

2. 2

   Identities of dead treated as unknown, unverified

   Local medical staff told Reuters that they urged people to provide information that could help identify the two people who were killed.

   Identities explicitly unconfirmed; reader told they are unidentified

3. 3

   IDF claim relayed with no qualification or counter-source

   The IDF stated that the strike targeted two Hamas terrorists, without giving further information.

   Military characterisation of the dead accepted and reported without attribution hedge or challenge

The same decision, both sides

What a reader is left with. A reader is left with the impression that the two dead are confirmed Hamas terrorists, even though the article itself acknowledges their identities had not been established at the time of publication.