LONDON: The Atlantic has ignited a wave of online criticism after publishing an article arguing that “it is possible to kill children legally” in Gaza.
Titled “The UN’s Gaza Statistics Make No Sense,” the opinion piece by staff writer Graeme Wood questioned the accuracy of the UN’s civilian death toll numbers from the Israeli war on Gaza.
Wood suggested that the UN’s statistics were unreliable, claiming they are sourced from Hamas.
“The UN numbers changed because the UN has little idea how many children have been killed in Gaza, beyond ‘a lot.’ It gets its statistics from Hamas,” the piece read.
Wood, known for his skeptical stance toward Hamas and Palestine since the conflict erupted last October, controversially suggested that in certain scenarios, the killing of children can be legally justifiable.
Despite acknowledging that “even when conducted legally, war is ugly,” Wood argued, “It is possible to kill children legally, if for example one is being attacked by an enemy who hides behind them. But the sight of a legally killed child is no less disturbing than the sight of a murdered one,” he wrote.
The article sparked a significant online backlash, with the campaign group Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG) condemning The Atlantic for the article.
“Eight months into the genocide and western media is still manufacturing consent for Zionism,” the group wrote in a post on X on Sunday.
“Defending child murder is egregious; but @TheAtlantic has historically defended imperial bloodshed,” WAWOG added.
@TheAtlantic published a justification for the murder of Palestinian children today. pic.twitter.com/CGTh3Aexxw
— Writers Against the War on Gaza (@wawog_now) May 26, 2024
Users took to social media to express their frustration over the article, with some questioning the legality of Wood’s claim and calling his choice of words “disgusting.”
“‘A legally killed child’ is a phrase I never imagined I would read in my lifetime,” wrote Lebanese political activist and musician Peter Daou on X.
"A legally killed child" is a phrase I never imagined I would read in my lifetime. https://t.co/8gPw9dAHF7
— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) May 26, 2024
Others have also called for canceling their subscriptions to The Atlantic.
The backlash comes as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 45 people on Sunday, hitting tents for displaced people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, with reports that people were “burning alive.”
These attacks came two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah, described by the UNRWA as “horrifying.”
According to Gaza’s health ministry, the death toll in Gaza has neared 36,000 people, with the vast majority being children and women.
