WH issues clarification after Biden says he saw images of beheaded Israeli babies

President Joe Biden addressed the escalating situation in Israel on Wednesday, but in doing so, set off a bit of a firestorm after suggesting that he had seen images of babies beheaded by Hamas terrorists, only for the White House to later issue a clarification, as the New York Post reports.

Speaking to a group of Jewish leaders in Washington, D.C., Biden commented on reports in which it was claimed that upwards of 40 infants had been murdered in an especially gruesome fashion on Saturday amid surprise attacks from Hamas.

Expressing incredulity at the barbarism of what reportedly took place, Biden said, “I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children. I never thought I'd ever – anyway.”

Many took the president's words to mean that he had actually viewed photos confirming the horrific reports out of Israel, but that was later revealed by the White House not to be the case.

As NBC News noted, two administration officials said that Biden was simply referencing reports about the violence that alleged instances of that particular form of violence.

One such report came from a spokesperson representing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and it alleged that babies and young children were discovered with their “heads decapitated” in Kfar Aza following the Hamas incursion.

As the Post noted, the occurrences referenced by Biden were, however, confirmed by members of the Israel Defense Forces in a video released on Thursday.

Yossi Landau of the country's volunteer civilian emergency response organization indicated that he had also seen firsthand the remains of babies and toddlers who had suffered the unthinkable fate referenced by Biden.

Landau said, “I saw a lot more that cannot be described for now, because it's very hard to describe.”

While Biden may not have personally laid eyes on photos of the aforementioned method of murder, France 24 reported that Secretary of State Antony Blinken did see proof of the atrocities committed against children.

Blinken was reportedly shown images by Netanyahu during an emergency visit to Israel, photos that had also been posted to the prime minister's X account.

One image was of a dead infant in a body bag, and another revealed the blackened remains of another.

Conveying to reporters what he was shown, Blinken said, “A baby – an infant – riddled with bullets. Soldiers beheaded, young people burnt alive in their cars.”

“For any human being to see this, it's really beyond almost anything that we can comprehend and digest,” he went on, adding that the “evidence of depravity and the inhumanity of Hamas” could not be ignored.