On January 30th the BBC News website published a short report by George Wright titled “Hamas confirms death of military chief Deif”. Relating to a video announcement put out on the same day by a spokesman for the terrorist organisation, Wright’s report tells BBC audiences that:
“Hamas has confirmed that its military chief, Mohammed Deif, has been killed.
Israel’s military said it had killed Deif in July last year, but Hamas had not confirmed this until now.”
Wright’s report makes no mention whatsoever of the fact that Deif – aka Mohammed Masri – was hiding in a fenced compound located in the al Mawasi humanitarian zone when he was killed.
As was noted here at the time following the BBC’s July 2024 report on that strike:
“Notably, the BBC’s reporting makes no mention of that fenced-off Hamas compound and the fact that uninvolved civilians would be unlikely to be in that closed area. Instead, the BBC preferred to paint a broad-brush picture of an attack on a “humanitarian zone”.
“One of the air strikes hit a designated humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis. […]
BBC Verify has analysed footage of the aftermath of the strike, confirming that it took place within an area shown on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) website as a humanitarian zone.””
The same strike was referenced – yet again without clarification that the site was a closed Hamas compound – in a January 15th 2025 report by Benedict Garman and Richard Irvine-Brown of BBC Verify titled “Gaza ‘humanitarian zone’ struck almost 100 times since May, BBC Verify finds”.
“Seven of the documented strikes are reported to have killed 20 or more people each, with the most deadly on 13 July resulting in more than 90 deaths, according to the Gaza health ministry, first responders and medics.
The IDF later said Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif, was among the dead. Deif is accused of being one of the figures responsible for planning the 7 October attacks.”
BBC Verify’s report has not been updated to clarify that Hamas acknowledged that Deif – along with Rafa’a Salameh, commander of the Khan Younis Brigade – was indeed killed in that strike.
Remarkably, the only mentions of Hamas’ exploitation of the al Mawasi humanitarian zone and its use of those sheltering there as human shields in that “BBC Verify analysis” come from the Israeli army.
“In a statement to BBC Verify, the IDF said it was targeting Hamas fighters operating in the “humanitarian zone” and accused the group of violating international law while “exploiting” civilians as human shields and launching rockets from the area. […]
The IDF told BBC Verify the strikes were conducted “against terrorists and terror infrastructures including rocket launchers, weapons warehouse and manufacturing sites, operational apartments, underground infrastructure, operational headquarters, and terrorists hideout.”
BBC Verify’s excuse for not having investigated Hamas’ exploitation of the humanitarian zone and the civilians sheltering there itself reads as follows:
“As Israel does not allow foreign reporters access to Gaza – apart from highly controlled, escorted trips with its military – international media, including the BBC, is reliant on imagery gathered by Palestinian journalists and Gaza residents.”
Moreover, BBC Verify’s supposedly fact-based ‘analysis’ amplifies a narrative promoted by the political NGO ‘Norwegian Refugee Council’.
“Gavin Kelleher, an access manager in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said there were “near daily” strikes within the zone, including from Israeli ships and quadcopters, or small drones.
He added that “heavy fire is recurrent in this area despite its [Israel’s] unilateral ‘humanitarian’ designation.”
“The Israeli military appears keen to maintain the illusion of a Humanitarian Zone that remains a certain size, yet that zone can be subject to ‘evacuation orders’ at any time and be targeted,” Mr Kelleher said.”
The report closes with some linguistic acrobatics and more promotion of a similar narrative from an employee of a Hamas-infiltrated UN body:
“While Israel’s military has avoided using the term “safe zone”, its statements have led civilians to interpret the “humanitarian zone” as such. IDF evacuation notices include language that tells civilians – like this one which was issued in mid-December – “for your own safety, move immediately west to the humanitarian area”.
It has also described the zone as being “designated for humanitarian aid and shelters as part of the IDF’s consistent efforts to protect the uninvolved population.”
But the UN and international humanitarian organisations operating in Gaza have said there’s no such thing as a “safe zone” that is unilaterally enforced.
Juliette Touma of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said: “We have said it so so many times. There is no safe zone in Gaza. No place is safe. No-one is safe. No place is spared.””
If Hamas did not exploit the al Mawasi humanitarian zone (and additional civilian infrastructure) for military purposes including rocket launching, there would of course be no need for the IDF to conduct strikes or instruct evacuations in that area.
The fact that a US and EU designated terrorist who was Hamas’ second in command in the Gaza Strip and headed its Qassam brigades was located in that humanitarian zone when he was eliminated would be the main focus of any “investigative journalists” who truly sought to meet the BBC’s obligation to provide its audiences with “a range and depth of analysis”.
Instead, as is all too often the case, BBC Verify is more interested in promoting a particular narrative.
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The theatre of the absurd by the BBC