Israeli officials said Thursday that the country plans to take legal action against The New York Times over a "hideous and distorted" opinion story alleging Israeli soldiers and their dogs raped Palestinian prisoners. 

The opinion piece was written by staff opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof and detailed allegations of widespread rape of Palestinians – men, women and children – held in Israeli prisons. 

"Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times," the Israeli Foreign Minister said in a post on X. 

Kristof's column, which cited accounts from 14 former Palestinian prisoners, sparked a fierce backlash from experts saying it is Jew-hating propaganda, the New York Post reported. 

Just The News is reaching out to the newspaper for comment.