Early on March 20th – less than 48 hours after Israel resumed military operations in the Gaza Strip – the BBC News website published a report by Jon Donnison titled “‘They wanted to be doctors, teachers’: Gazans grieve children killed in massive Israeli strikes”.
The purpose of Donnison’s report is to promote the narrative of “disproportionate” numbers of female and child casualties killed in Israeli airstrikes. To that end, Donnison’s report features two grieving fathers, including in photographs.
Those two showcased stories are presented without any context explaining the specific circumstances.
“At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the south of the Strip, Alaa Abu Hilal stands cradling his baby son Mohammed in his arms.
The child’s tiny face peeps out of a white shroud.
Mohammed was one of more than 170 children killed in Israel’s renewed bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday, which shattered the ceasefire deal in place for the past two months.
Alaa’s wife lies in a body bag at his feet. She was just 20.
“We only got married two years ago,” Alaa says. “She was seven months pregnant when she was killed.””
And:
“Karam Tafeek Hameid lost his three boys on Tuesday in the Israeli attack: Hassan who was nine, Mohammad aged eight, and Aziz who was just five.
“They used to play around, have fun, most of all they loved to ride with me on my tuktuk,” Karam says with tears in his eyes.
“They wanted to be doctors, teachers.””
Four days after the report’s appearance, David Collier provided that missing context in a report which explains the terror connections of the two families. Notably, no clarification has been added to the BBC’s report since then.
Another interviewee featured in Donnison’s report is presented as follows: [emphasis added]
“Israel’s military does not allow foreign journalists uncontrolled access to Gaza. From Jerusalem I spoke to Dr Morgan McMonagle, an Irish trauma surgeon who is volunteering at Nasser Hospital in Gaza.
On Tuesday, the doctor says he worked flat out from 02:30 in the morning, when Israel’s assault began, to late at night. He estimated 40% of the dead and injured he saw were children.
“All I can do is report as a simple humanitarian surgeon on the ground, there is a disproportionate number of children being injured and killed, and women,” he says.
“And I think any reasonable person can see that it’s disproportionate.””
Donnison refrained from informing his readers that the surgeon was, according to a similar report in the Guardian, volunteering with the anti-Israel NGO ‘Medical Aid for Palestinians’ (MAP).
Donnison’s claim that McMonagle “estimated 40% of the dead and injured he saw were children” is particularly interesting given that the same surgeon gave a radio interview to the Irish outlet RTÉ Radio 1 the day before this report was published, in which he stated: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]
“The latest figures that we’ve been given is that 40% of those killed from the activities of the last 24 hours are under the age of 14. And again, it’s just local information that I’ve been given. I haven’t confirmed that.”
Later in his report, Donnison quotes the surgeon again:
“Israel says Hamas exaggerates the number of Palestinians who are killed and injured. But the United Nations views the Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health figures as reliable. Some experts believe the number of people killed in Gaza over the past 18 months of war has in fact been underestimated.
Dr McMonagle says he has no reason to believe the Ministry of Health figures are wrong.
“I try to avoid the propaganda because propaganda drives war… but I can tell you over 70 people (at Nasser Hospital) went straight to the mortuary yesterday, and many of them were children. I saw them.
“I am not privy to the official figures but what I can tell you from senior figures at the hospital is that 40% of the dead and injured were women and children.””
Unsurprisingly, Donnison refrains from informing readers that the government (i.e. Hamas) funded Nasser hospital has been exploited by terrorists for over a year, as those “senior figures at the hospital” – and their Hamas health ministry superiors – are no doubt aware.
BBC NEWS WEBSITE COVERAGE OF THE NASSER HOSPITAL OPERATION
AN OVERVIEW OF BBC NEWS’ SECOND NASSER HOSPITAL BINGE
BBC REPORT PROMOTES HAMAS DISINFORMATION FOR 19 HOURS
Donnison’s claim that “the United Nations views the Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health figures as reliable” has of course been seen in previous BBC content but he fails to tell readers that last May the UN admitted that “United Nations teams in Gaza are unable to independently verify these figures”.
BBC’S FACT CHECK DEPARTMENT ROOTS FOR HAMAS CASUALTY FIGURES
BBC VERIFY YET AGAIN PLAYS THE STOOGE FOR HAMAS CASUALTY FIGURES
LOOKING BEHIND THE BBC’S ‘70% WOMEN AND CHILDREN’ MANTRA
Those familiar with Jon Donnison’s long record of activist journalism would not be remotely surprised by his failure to provide any relevant context to a story he exploits in order to promote a narrative of “disproportionate” child deaths.
Related Articles:
BBC SOUTH REPORTER UNCRITICALLY PROMOTES QUESTIONABLE GAZA ALLEGATIONS
