The Israel Security Agency’s report on terror attacks during May 2023 shows that throughout the month a total of 220 incidents took place: 163 in Judea & Samaria and 57 in Jerusalem and inside the ‘green line’. In addition, the agency recorded 1,582 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.
In Judea & Samaria, Jerusalem and inside the ‘green line’ the agency recorded 139 attacks with petrol bombs, 51 attacks using pipe bombs, eleven shooting attacks, twelve arson attacks, one vehicular attack and three stabbing attacks.
Two Israeli civilians were killed and twenty-one people were wounded in attacks during May.
One civilian – 80-year-old Inga Avramyan – was killed when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit her home in Rehovot on May 11th. Twelve people were injured in the same attack. The BBC News website mentioned the fatality in three different reports but failed to identify the victim in any of them.
One civilian – 32-year-old Meir Tamari – was murdered in a drive-by shooting near Hermesh on May 30th. That attack – which was later claimed by Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – did not receive any coverage whatsoever on the BBC News website.
On May 2nd a civilian was wounded in a shooting attack near Avnei Hefetz which was not reported by the BBC. On the same day a civilian was wounded in a rocket attack on Sderot which was mentioned in a BBC report.
On May 4th a member of the security forces was wounded in a stabbing attack in Huwara which was briefly mentioned in a BBC News website report on another topic. On May 9th a civilian was injured in a petrol bomb attack on a bus in Issawiya which did not receive any coverage on the BBC News website.
On May 11th four people were injured in rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip: one in Ashkelon and three in Kfar Maimon. The BBC News website reported on May 13th that five people in Israel had been wounded by Palestinian rocket fire since the beginning of Operation Shield and Arrow whereas the ISA report records sixteen injuries, all on May 11th.
On May 21st a member of the security forces was injured in a vehicular attack in Huwara which was briefly mentioned the next day in a BBC report on a different topic.
Not included in the ISA’s report is the death on May 31st a woman who was injured in a terror attack in 2001. The BBC News website reported Chana Nachenberg’s death the following day.
To summarise, the BBC News website covered two of the 220 attacks recorded by the ISA as well as a further five incidents resulting from the rocket attacks.
Throughout the first five months of 2023 the BBC News website reported 2.4% of the terror attacks which actually took place (not including Operation Shield and Arrow) and 85.7% of the fatalities.
With regard to BBC News website coverage of Israel’s counter-terrorism operations, the corporation’s reporting continues to fail to adequately inform audiences how many of the Palestinian casualties were members of terrorist organisations and/or males involved in violence at the time.
Details of the Palestinian casualties during May – including in the Gaza Strip – can be found in our regularly updated resource on that topic.
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