The BBC Apologizes for Amplifying Hamas Claim About Israeli ‘Summary Executions’ in Gaza
(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The BBC has apologized for amplifying Hamas’ claim that Israel was carrying out “summary executions” in the Gaza Strip back in December.
After Hamas’ allegation made it into an AFP story, the BBC proceeded to pick it up in overnight radio bulletins, according to Deadline. While those bulletins included caveats that the terrorist organization did not “value truth” and included the Israeli military’s claim not to have any knowledge of such an event, it ultimately decided the the inclusion of the uncorroborated atrocity was an error.
The outlet addressed the incident in a statement put out on its corrections and clarifications page:
In overnight output we ran a story about Hamas accusing the Israeli army of carrying out summary executions in the Gaza strip. This was a Hamas statement, but although the accusations were attributed and our story contained a response from the Israeli military saying they were unaware of the incident and that Hamas was a terrorist organisation that did not value truth, we had not made sufficient effort to seek corroborating evidence to justify reporting the Hamas claim. We apologise for this mistake.
This is not the first time that the BBC has erred in its coverage of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. It was among the news organizations that hastily reported that “hundreds” were “feared dead or injured in Israeli air strike on hospital in Gaza” back in mid-October.
After Israel denied responsibility for the strike, which actually struck the Al-Ahli hospital parking lot, the BBC’s John Donnison continued to insist on air that “It is hard to see what else this could be, really, given the size of the explosion, other than an Israeli air strike, or several air strikes.”
BREAKING: AL-AHLI BAPTIST HOSPITAL MASSACRE – BBC JOURNALIST STATES IT HAD TO BE ISRAEL
BBC’s John Donnison: “It’s hard to see what else this could be, really, given the size of the explosion, other than an Israeli air strike, or several air strikes” pic.twitter.com/Gxx4evC9DW
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) October 17, 2023
It was later revealed that the explosion was caused after Islamic extremists in Gaza launched a rocket intended for Israel.
The BBC’s international editor, Jeremy Bowen, said he didn’t “regret one thing” in his reporting about the incident, despite the fact that he erroneously stated that the hospital had been “flattened.”
