Readers may recall that during the summer of 2024, the BBC News website published multiple reports relating to what were described as Israeli attacks on schools in the Gaza Strip. Some of those non-functioning schools had been run by UNRWA while others were administered by different bodies.
One of the BBC’s reports – uncredited and published on August 4th 2024 under the headline “Casualties after third Israeli strike on school in a week” – related to strikes on two inactive educational establishments in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City: the al-Nasr and Hassan Salama schools.
“Dozens of people have reportedly been killed in Israeli air strikes on two schools in Gaza, according to Palestinian rescuers and news outlets.
Some of those killed were displaced people sheltering at the schools, rescuers said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the strikes, saying it had targeted Hamas “command and control centres” within two schools in Gaza City. […]
The IDF said: “The schools were used by Hamas’s al-Furqan Battalion as a hiding place for its terrorist operatives and as command centres used to plan and execute attacks against IDF troops and the state of Israel.”
Footage on social media purported to show bodies inside one of the schools as rescuers evacuated casualties, including children.
Palestinian media said at least 30 people were killed in the strikes. Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defence, said most of the dead were women and children.”
As is more often than not the case, that report did not inform BBC audiences that “the Palestinian Civil Defence” is run by Hamas.
CAMERA UK noted at the time that the BBC’s report was not updated to inform audiences that among the Hamas terrorists hiding in the Nasr and Hassan Salama schools in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood was a prominent Hamas commander.
“The IDF struck Hamas terrorist Jaber Aziz, Commander of Hamas’s Al-Furqan Battalion [also the Sheikh Radwan brigade – Ed.], and several other terrorists who were operating in a Hamas command and control center that was embedded within the “Hassan Salame” and “Nasser” schools in Gaza City on Sunday, the IDF reported Monday evening.
Aziz was in this role since 2020, and was previously the Deputy Commander of the Al-Furqan Battalion, Deputy Commander of the Zaytun Battalion, and the Commander of the Zaytun Battalion.
Aziz played a significant role in planning the October 7 attack and led the preparations and training of the Al-Furqan Battalion. He also infiltrated Gaza border communities on October 7.”
OMISSIONS IN BBC REPORTING ON TERRORISM AND COUNTER-TERRORISM
Since the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip came into effect, Hamas has been holding funerals for operatives killed during the war – events which the BBC apparently does not consider newsworthy. One analyst noticed a procession held in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.
As documented in a detailed thread, the person portrayed on that poster – Jihad Qazzar – had been killed on August 4th in the strikes on the Hassan Salame and Nasr schools in which 23 people were reported by Palestinian sources to have died. The analyst found that eight of those people had been described as fighters by their relatives and that some of the civilians killed were family members of a terrorist present at the location.
Six days later, on August 10th 2024, the BBC News website published another report – also originally uncredited – quoting the same spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defence on the topic of a strike at another inactive school in Gaza City. As was noted here at the time, early versions of that report included the following: [emphasis added]
“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.
Whatever the case, these buildings are where many displaced Gazans have sought shelter, and they are paying the highest price.”
THE SOURCES BEHIND ANOTHER BBC “TARGETING SCHOOLS” REPORT
Over six months have passed since that spate of BBC reports claiming that Israel was ‘targeting schools’. Nevertheless, the corporation has shown no interest whatsoever in providing any follow-up reporting which would give audiences a more accurate picture of the reasons why non-functioning schools were targeted, how the terrorists used civilians sheltering there as human shields and why the Hamas denials it chose to repeatedly promote were inaccurate.
Nearly two months have gone by since the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip came into effect and Hamas and other groups began conducting funerals and memorials for their commanders and operatives. Likewise, the BBC has displayed no interest in providing audiences with more accurate information concerning the numbers of terror operatives killed.
Sadly for whatever is left of the BBC’s reputation as an impartial broadcaster, that lack of journalistic curiosity no longer surprises.
