The New York Times‘ Ben Hubbard and Jodi Rudoren report on yesterday’s attack on an UNRWA school in Gaza that killed at least 15 people. They write:

The source of the blasts was unclear, setting off recriminations between Israelis and Palestinians over which side was responsible. People in the school reported three to five blasts and accused Israel of shelling them. Israel suggested that rockets fired by militants might have fallen short of their targets or that the school might have been hit with errant shells from either side in fighting nearby. The United Nations said it could not confirm the source of the blasts.

Oddly enough however the Israeli military had already taken responsibility for the attack:

Hamas fired from a populated area near an UNRWA shelter & prevented civilians from evacuating after we sent warnings. http://t.co/LhITV3rspZ — IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 24, 2014

Huh? The Guardian is on the story:

The Israeli military first claimed, in a text sent to journalists, that the school could have been hit by Hamas missiles that fell short. Later, a series of tweets from the Israel Defence Forces appeared to confirm the deaths were the result of an Israeli strike. “Today Hamas continued firing from Beit Hanoun. The IDF responded by targeting the source of the fire.”

NBC’s Richard Engel tweeted that Israel’s original narrative that Hamas missiles struck the school just didn’t make sense:

IDF suggests Hamas rocket/rockets hit school. it would mean five inaccurate rockets all hit a small location in rapid succession. likely? — Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) July 24, 2014

And yet Hubbard and Rudoren repeated the Israeli account verbatim. Media critic Greg Mitchell calls it “a disgraceful day for the ‘Paper Of Record’.”

Even odder, New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren seems to think that readers should pay less attention to what is happening in Gaza – which is her beat! Yesterday she tweeted out this Atlantic article by Jeffrey Goldberg titled “Obsessing About Gaza, Ignoring Syria (and Most Everything Else)”:

Obsessing About Gaza, Ignoring Syria (And Most Everything Else) – Atlantic Mobile http://t.co/mqu8ABcOIl — Jodi Rudoren (@rudoren) July 24, 2014

(h/t Nancy Kricorian)