The Wall Street Journal did not report a U.S.-made MK-84 was dropped on the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza

Context

On October 17, an explosion occurred at al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital in Gaza’s old city amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. While the exact number of casualties is unconfirmed, the Gaza Health Ministry reported at least 500 deaths.

October 18, 2023, as U.S. President Joe Biden visited Israel, erroneous claims that the Wall Street Journal had reported the explosion was caused by an American MK-84 bomb circulated on social media. One such post image reads, ”#Breaking –Shams News Agency: The American Wall Street Journal: “The bomb that was dropped on Baptist Hospital was an American MK-84,” while another post employs the claim to cast blame for the bombing.

However, the Wall Street Journal has not reported that an American MK-84 was used to bomb the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. 

In fact

Upon searching for reporting by the Wall Street Journal on the bombing of the al-Ahli Hospital, Logically Facts did not come across any such reports on the official website or social media channels of the publication that an American MK-84 was used in the bombing of the al-Ahli Hospital. No other reliable media sources have reported anything similar.  

“The Wall Street Journal has not reported that an American MK-84 was deployed in the Gaza hospital blast Tuesday,” the newspaper stated to the Associated Press. 

Since the explosion, there have been conflicting claims as to who is responsible for the attack. Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for the explosion, but as of October 20, there is not enough evidence to validate either claim. 

Misinformation and misattributed footage have surged amid the war between Israel and Hamas. Logically Facts continues to monitor and cover misleading and erroneous claims as they emerge.

The verdict

The Wall Street Journal has denied reporting that a U.S.-made MK-84 bomb was used in the al-Ahli Hospital explosion in Gaza. Neither has it been reported by the official website or social media channels of the newspaper nor by any other reliable news source. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.