Israeli military admits misrepresenting Malaysian shopping centre as a mall in Gaza

PETALING JAYA: A photo of an upscale shopping mall in Malaysia was mistakenly used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) on its blog to depict a seemingly normal life in Gaza.

In a post entitled "What Happened to the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza?" the photograph, which shows Suria KLCC's centre court was accompanied with the caption "the shopping mall for the latest caption from overseas".

According to The Jerusalem Post, the image was part of 17 other allegedly accurate photographs of Gazan life.

The report cited the IDF apologising for the error, saying that it was an "innocent mistake" and the photo has since been removed.

"It was an innocent mistake. The picture was removed when we learned (of the error)," the IDF was quoted as saying.

The blog post, which was published on Aug 12, claimed that Gaza was not an "open-air prison" as was reported by the media.

"Sun, beach, shopping: these are the types of things that define summer all over the world, and Gaza is no different," said the blog post.

The photos, among others, showed Palestinians going to modern-looking grocery stores, playing beach volleyball and having free access to a luxury hotel and enjoying nightlife.

"As you can see, there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Many Gazans have money, food and even luxuries that much of the world goes without. more

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