Last month we noted the BBC’s repeated promotion – including by its fact checking department BBC Verify – of the false notion that prior to October 7th 2023, an average of 500 trucks a day carrying food supplies had entered the Gaza Strip:
BBC VERIFY ONCE AGAIN PROMOTES ‘500 TRUCKS’ MISINFORMATION
In addition to the examples given in that post, another one appeared in an article published on the BBC News website on May 23rd under the headline “Chaos spreads as desperate Gazans wait for food to arrive”. Readers of the original version of that report by Rushdi Abualouf, Alice Cuddy and Mallory Moench were told that:
“Humanitarian organisations have warned the amount of food entering Gaza in recent days is not close to what is needed to feed the 2.1 million people living there, while the UN has said about 500 lorries entered the territory on average every day before the war.
Widespread famine, humanitarian groups have warned, looms over Gaza.” [emphasis added]
The same language appeared in an Arabic language version of the report published on the BBC Arabic website.
CAMERA Arabic submitted a complaint to the BBC regarding both versions of the article. The response received on June 4th included the following:
“Thank you for contacting the BBC and your complaint about some of our coverage of the delivery of humanitarian aid and food to Gaza. Specifically you note two articles (bbc.com/news/articles/cx2ekv9ez43o and bbc.com/arabic/articles/c17rn515vr2o) in which we cite the UN’s statement that on average, before the war, about 500 lorries entered Gaza on every day.
The editors have reviewed the article and have made amendments to make clear the difference between the delivery of ‘aid/supplies’ and food.”
The paragraph in question now reads as follows in both languages:
“Humanitarian organisations have warned the amount of food entering Gaza in recent days is not close to what is needed to feed the 2.1 million people living there.”
Hopefully this correction will prevent any additional promotion of that false claim in future BBC reporting.
