BBC avoids the issue of Hamas theft of humanitarian aid

On December 17th the BBC News website published a filmed report titled ‘Chaotic scenes as people run after lorries carrying aid in Gaza’.

“Vehicles carrying aid through the city of Rafah in Gaza have been mobbed by crowds of people trying to get hold of vital supplies.

Some people climbed onto the trucks and threw boxes to those running after the lorries. In one scene a lorry could be seen swerving, causing aid boxes to come crashing down from the back.

In other pictures, dozens of people scrambled to salvage scattered aid boxes lining the middle of the road.

At a press conference on Thursday, the UN said that hungry people were stopping lorries carrying supplies, and eating food aid immediately.”

Sixteen seconds into that commentary-free video, following chaotic scenes of civilians scrambling to get their hands on cartons, viewers see different footage of lorries bearing UAE markings with masked men on top.

The same video was embedded into a written report also published on the BBC News website on December 17th under the headline ‘Israel Gaza: Hostages shot by IDF put out ‘SOS’ sign written with leftover food’.

BBC audiences were not however informed of reports that those masked men were Hamas operatives.

“Videos circulating on social media Sunday showed gunmen, reportedly Hamas operatives, stealing trucks delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip from Egypt, as aid convoys also started entering the Palestinian enclave through the Kerem Shalom border crossing for the first time since the outbreak of the war on October 7.

In the videos, masked and armed men can be seen sitting on top of the humanitarian supplies — usually food, water, medicine and fuel — as the trucks drive deeper into the Strip.”

In recent weeks there have been additional reports of Hamas commandeering aid intended for the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

In October, UNRWA posted – and then deleted – a Tweet saying that Hamas had stolen some of its supplies of fuel and medical equipment. In November evidence emerged of Hamas commandeering fuel from a hospital in the Gaza Strip.

There is of course nothing novel about such reports: similar ones have repeatedly emerged over the years and in 2009 UNRWA suspended aid shipments into the Gaza Strip after Hamas stole thousands of tons of food.

If the BBC is going to amplify UN warnings of “a humanitarian catastrophe amid widespread shortages of basic supplies”, then it should surely provide its audiences with the whole picture – and that includes Hamas’ long-documented theft of such supplies.

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5 Comments

  1. says: Grimey

    And we have to pay £159 per year for the garbage named “BBC News” when, in reality, it is pure Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi propaganda.
    Wake up, Rishi, and rid us of this national disgrace.

  2. says: Neil C

    Well why would the Islamic Broadcasting Corporation oh sorry I meant the BBC, slag off their murderous butchering thieving sub human brothers and sisters in mythical Palestine and actually tell the world the truth? #defundthebbc

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