The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF)rejected the claims, describing them as "unfounded", and said the child was brought "by a Hamas operative into a dangerous area to be used as a human shield". They claimed that his injuries were inflicted by shrapnel from bullets being fired by Israeli soldiers.

[...]

The child was examined by Dr Bisan Ahmed, an emergency room physician, a day after his release. She produced a medical report that identified signs of possible torture.

"I observed multiple deep, uniform lesions on his lower body, which are clinically consistent with deliberate cigarette burns used as a form of physical torture," she told Sky News. The Independent could not verify the report.

Jawad's father is still missing, and his family has not been told whether he has been arrested by the Israeli army, or what his condition is after being wounded. The IDF has not produced evidence to support the claim that Osama is a member of Hamas.

CNN correspondent Diana Magnay was pulled from covering the Israeli-Hamas conflict Friday after she reported on a rocket attack and referred to Israelis who were allegedly harassing her as "scum."

Magnay fired off an angry tweet Thursday, shortly after she appeared on the air with Wolf Blitzer and reported on the rocket strike from a hill overlooking Israel's border with Gaza.

"Israelis on hill above Sderot cheer as bombs land #gaza; threaten to 'destroy our car if I say a word wrong.' Scum," she wrote.

Her tweet was later removed — but the damage was done once it was recirculated.

A CNN spokeswoman said Magnay was reassigned to Moscow.

"After being threatened and harassed before and during a live shot, Diana reacted angrily on Twitter," a CNN spokeswoman said in a statement to The Huffington Post.

"She deeply regrets the language used, which was aimed directly at those who had been targeting our crew. She certainly meant no offense to anyone beyond the group, and she and CNN apologize for any offense that may have been taken."

On the air, Magnay called the rocket fire "an astonishing, macabre and awful thing."

New York political watchers said Magnay dug her own hole by using such an inflammatory word on Twitter for others to see.

"It ain't good politics in the US to be calling a group of Israelis scum," said Baruch College Professor Doug Muzzio. "The use of the word is unfortunate. It's definitely something a professional journalist wouldn't say on the air."

While CNN had the right to reassign her, Muzzio said the Magnay controversy represents a new quandary for journalists about what's private and what's public.

"Can a journalist make a private comment on Twitter without running afoul of corporate bosses? It's an awful gray area," he said.