Throughout the past fifteen months the BBC has repeatedly told its audiences that it cannot verify reports coming out of the Gaza Strip because “international journalists” are not allowed free access to the territory by Israel and (as the corporation more often than not fails to note) Egypt.
“Israel does not allow international journalists from media organisations, including the BBC, independent access to Gaza, making it difficult to verify facts on the ground.” [for example here, here, here, here and here]
“The BBC has not been able to verify claims made by either side, with international media being prevented by Israel from entering and freely working on the ground in Gaza.” [for example here]
That, however, has not prevented the BBC from repeating any and every claim or accusation dished out by bodies controlled by the Hamas terrorist organisation that started the war, or its sympathisers.
Yet another example of that practice comes in a report published on the BBC News website on the morning of December 27th which was originally headlined ‘Israel orders Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital to evacuate’ and credited to Emir Nader “reporting from Jerusalem”.
Over the next thirty-eight hours that report was amended seven times. The version currently appearing online is no longer credited to Nader but cites additional reporting by Shaimaa Khalil and goes under the headline ‘Israel forcibly evacuates Gaza hospital and detains medical staff’.
The report opens with promotion of a claim from the health ministry run by a terrorist organisation proscribed by the UK government: [emphasis added]
“Israeli forces have detained and interrogated medical staff after forcibly evacuating the last major hospital in northern Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says.”
In fact, as reported by local media, those detained at the Kamal Adwan hospital are suspected or known terrorists:
“The IDF said that, of 940 Palestinians who passed through an army checkpoint outside the hospital, 240 were detained for being alleged members of terror groups. In all, some 600 civilians and another 95 patients, caregivers, and medical personnel were evacuated from Kamal Adwan.
Of the 240 terror operatives, the IDF said that at least 15 participated in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which started the ongoing war. Several others are considered to be prominent commanders in the Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups, the military said.
Several operatives who carried out a deadly attack on troops in Jabalia earlier this month were also nabbed, the IDF added.”
The BBC report’s second paragraph states:
“The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, was among those taken for questioning by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which accused him of “being a Hamas terrorist operative”, without providing evidence.”
Only sixteen paragraphs later do readers find that the hospital’s director – who apparently holds the military rank of colonel – is suspected of being a Hamas operative rather than “accused”.
“It [the IDF] added Dr Abu Safiya was among medical staff taken for questioning and is “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative, as well as Hamas engineering and anti-tank missile operatives.””
At no point in the BBC’s report are readers told that the Kamal Adwan hospital – named after a leader of the Black September terrorist group – is a military facility.
The third paragraph of the BBC’s report promotes another claim from the Hamas health ministry: [emphasis added]
“On Friday an estimated 50 people, including medical staff were killed in Israeli air strikes targeting the vicinity of the hospital, the health ministry said.”
A report from the Times of Israel (which includes a link to this BBC article) clarifies that inaccurate allegation:
“The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that a military raid, completed Saturday, on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza had killed 19 terror operatives, without any known civilian casualties, after Hamas-run health authorities previously claimed — and some international media reported — that 50 people had been killed, including hospital staff.”
The BBC’s article does not tell readers that the same Hamas ministry of health also spread a false claim concerning a fire at the hospital. It does however promote unverified allegations made by one of those who promoted that falsehood – the ministry’s deputy minister. [emphasis added]
“Gaza’s deputy minister of health, Dr Yousef Abu-Al Rish, told the BBC that around 100 medical staff were being questioned by the IDF and alleged that some were exposed to psychological torture.
The IDF did not comment on the latter allegation when approached by the BBC.
Concerns remain about the state of the Indonesian Hospital, which doctors have warned is not equipped for patients.
“You can’t call it a hospital, it’s more of a shelter,” Dr Abu-Al Rish said on Friday.”
Readers are of course not informed that the same Abu-Al Rish was also party to the spreading of disinformation about the Al Ahli hospital explosion back in October 2023. Neither are they told of terrorist activities at the Indonesian hospital.
In addition to those Hamas sources, the BBC’s report also promotes statements from the UN’s World Health Organisation.
“Fifteen critical patients, 50 caregivers and 20 health workers were transferred the nearby Indonesian Hospital, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
The WHO said it was “appalled by yesterday’s raid” on the hospital, which it said now meant the area’s last major health facility was out of service.”
The fact that the WHO is apparently not “appalled” by Hamas’ well documented exploitation of hospitals for military purposes is perhaps best viewed in the context of its past collaboration with that terrorist organisation’s ministry of health, including promotion of its propaganda since the outset of the war.
Like the WHO, the BBC displays no interest in the topic of the take-over of medical facilities by terrorists and the consequences for the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip. Instead, the BBC’s idea of ‘accurate and impartial’ coverage is to base an entire report primarily on allegations made by functionaries of the same terrorist organisation which abuses medical facilities, including this particular hospital, in order to advance its military aims.
