Israel-Hamas war: How 2 debunked accounts of sexual violence fueled global dispute

The United Nations and other organizations have presented credible evidence that Hamas militants committed sexual assault during their Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel. But some accounts from that day proved untrue. Two testimonies by volunteers with the Israeli search and rescue organization ZAKA, have been debunked. Still, they have helped fuel a global clash over whether sexual violence occurred during the attack, and on what scale. Some allege the accounts of sexual assault were purposely concocted. ZAKA officials and others dispute that. Regardless, AP’s examination of ZAKA’s handling of the now-debunked stories shows how information can be clouded and distorted in the chaos of the conflict.