The sources behind another BBC “targeting schools” report

On August 10^th the BBC News website published an uncredited report under the headline “Dozens reportedly killed in Israeli strike on Gaza” which opened as follows: [emphasis added]

“Gaza’s Hamas-controlled civil defence agency says dozens of people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a shelter in a school in Gaza City.

Israel’s military said it had struck the location on Saturday, describing its target as a Hamas command centre embedded in the school.

According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, the strike in the Daraj district killed at least 90 people and injured dozens more.

The BBC has been unable to independently verify the figures.

“The death toll is now between 90 to 100 and there are dozens more wounded,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP news agency.”

As regular readers will be aware, the acknowledgement that the source of the report’s claims is run by Hamas is quite a rare occurrence in BBC reporting.

A later version of the same report also opened with the claims put out by that Hamas-run body, going on to tell readers that:

“The Hamas-run health ministry has not confirmed the figures.”

And:

“A statement by IDF spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said that “based on Israeli intelligence, approximately 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, including senior commanders, were operating from the compound struck at the al-Tabaeen school, using it to carry out terrorist attacks”.

The spokesman said the casualty figures released by Hamas officials “do not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike”.”

That version of the report also promoted Hamas propaganda:

“But targeting schools has become a regular feature of IDF operations in recent weeks, apparently as part of what it says is an ongoing effort to destroy Hamas military infrastructure.

Since the beginning of July, more than a dozen schools have been hit, according to unofficial tallies, including at one point four in four days.

Each time, in nearly identical statements, the IDF says Hamas is hiding in the schools and using them as command centres to plan and carry out attacks, something Hamas denies.”

Previous recent BBC reporting – including similar promotion of Hamas denials – on strikes on Hamas command and control centres deliberately located in currently inactive school buildings being used as shelters has been discussed here:

OMISSIONS IN BBC REPORTING ON TERRORISM AND COUNTER-TERRORISM

BBC NEWS TELLS PARTIAL STORIES FROM DEIR AL BALAH AND BALATA

BBC NEWS STICKS TO THE NARRATIVE IN REPORTS ON UNRWA SCHOOLS

BBC NEWS FRAMING OF A STRIKE ON TERRORISTS USING HUMAN SHIELDS

A later version of the same report was headlined “Dozens reported killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school building” and told readers that:

“An Israeli air strike on a school building sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City has killed dozens of people, Hamas-run authorities in the territory say.

A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said al-Taba’een school “served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility” with approximately 20 “militants” operating there.

More than 60 people were killed and 47 injured, the health ministry’s ambulance service said, quoted by the AP news agency.

Earlier, the Gaza civil defence agency – a rescue service – said at least 90 people were killed. The BBC cannot independently verify figures from either side.”

Later in that version of the report, readers found more promotion of blatant propaganda:

“A statement by IDF spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said that “based on Israeli intelligence, approximately 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, including senior commanders, were operating from the compound struck at the al-Tabaeen school, using it to carry out terrorist attacks”.

Hamas denies this. […]

Hamas described the attack as a “horrific crime and a dangerous escalation” in Israel’s “war of extermination against the Palestinian people”.

Fatah, Hamas’s political Palestinian rival in the West Bank, said Israel’s aim was “to exterminate Palestinians through a policy of cumulative killing”.”

The fact that Hamas’ denials of exploitation of civilian infrastructure have repeatedly been proven to be redundant did not prevent the BBC from repeating that propaganda:

“Since the beginning of July, more than a dozen schools have been hit, according to unofficial tallies, including at one point four in four days.

Each time, in nearly identical statements, the IDF says Hamas is hiding in the schools and using them as command centres to plan and carry out attacks, something Hamas denies.

Whatever the case, these buildings are where many displaced Gazans have sought shelter, and they are paying the highest price.”

As in previous reporting on similar incidents, readers find no evidence of the BBC having asked the Hamas spokesmen and “officials” with which it is in regular contact about the terrorist organisation’s proven use of human shields.

Later in the day that report was retitled “Israeli strike in Gaza kills more than 70, hospital head says” and credited to Barbara Plett Usher in Jerusalem and Thomas Mackintosh in London, with “Additional reporting by Rushdi Abualouf, Gaza correspondent located in Istanbul, Turkey”.

That version of the report quotes a different source on the topic of casualty figures – as ever without distinction between civilians and combatants and without any independent BBC verification – and continues to amplify Hamas propaganda:

“An Israeli air strike on a school building sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City has killed more than 70 people, the director of a hospital has told the BBC.

Fadl Naeem, head of al-Ahli Hospital where many of the casualties were taken, said those were the victims who had been identified so far, with the remains of many others so badly disfigured that identification was difficult.

An Israeli military spokesman said al-Taba’een school “served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility”, which Hamas denies.”

Perusal of Dr Fadl Naim’s Twitter account shows that long before October 7^th 2023, he could not be considered a reliable and objective source.

Here he is reposting Ghassan Abu Sitta’s disinformation concerning a letter published by The Lancet:

Here he is mourning a colleague who held three Israeli hostages in his private residence:

Here he is comparing internationally designated terrorists to Nelson Mandela while promoting an extremist terror supporter.

Here he is promoting Nazi analogies and the ‘genocide’ smear:

Naim has also promoted the lie that the IDF “found nothing” at Shifa hospital and publicised the narrative of ‘mass graves’ found at that location. He has promoted unverified claims and Nazi analogies concerning an incident on al Rashid road in early November 2023 and is something of a fan of the Hamas-linked NGO ‘EuroMed Monitor’.

And last but not least, Naim has also repeatedly promoted the lie that Israel was responsible for the explosion at al Ahli hospital in October 2023, along with Hamas-supplied casualty figures and blaming the BBC:

Nevertheless, as we see, the BBC is apparently of the opinion that the title ‘doctor’ is enough to render Fadl Naim a source worthy of quotation in both this and a subsequent report on the story, as well as in televised BBC News reports – none of which provides the corporation’s audiences with details concerning the at least nineteen Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists known to have been eliminated in that strike on a command room embedded within a mosque at the al Taba’een school complex.