On the evening of August 16th the BBC promoted a written report that was originally headlined “Gazan woman flown to Italy dies of malnutrition”.
Some three hours after its initial publication, the headline of that BBC report by freelancer Rachel Muller-Heyndyk was changed to read “Malnourished Gazan woman flown to Italy dies in hospital”. Readers were told that:
“A Gazan woman who was evacuated to Italy for treatment while severely emaciated has died in hospital.
The 20-year-old, who was identified as Marah Abu Zuhri, flew to Pisa with her mother on an overnight flight on Wednesday under a scheme set up by the Italian government.
The University Hospital of Pisa said that she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Friday, less than 48 hours after arriving.
The hospital said she had suffered severe loss of weight and muscle, while Italian news agencies reported she was suffering from severe malnutrition.”
The report then goes on to promote the narrative that the BBC adopted in July.
“The UN has warned of widespread malnutrition in Gaza, with experts backed by the organisation warning last month in a report that the “worst-case scenario” of famine is playing out in Gaza.
Israel has denied there is starvation in Gaza and accused UN agencies of not picking up aid at the borders and delivering it.”
A link to Muller-Heyndyk’s report also appeared in an August 16th article by Ruth Comerford titled “Bring sick and injured children to UK from Gaza immediately, MPs say”.
“On Saturday, authorities in Italy said a 20-year-old Gazan woman who had been brought to Pisa for treatment had died in hospital. Marah Abu Zuhri, who was severely emaciated, was flown to Italy on Wednesday but died two days later.”
Apparently neither Muller-Heyndyk nor Comerford bothered to check whether what “Italian news agencies reported” was in fact accurate.
On August 17th COGAT provided evidence from a Gaza hospital’s cancer clinic showing that Marah Zohry suffered from Leukemia and that her evacuation for treatment in Italy had been facilitated by Israel.
Following considerable criticism of that BBC report on social media in light of that information, another ‘he said-she said’ amendment was made on the afternoon of August 17th, over seven hours after COGAT’s clarification had appeared:
“A Gazan woman who was evacuated to Italy for treatment while severely emaciated has died in hospital.
The 20-year-old, identified as Marah Abu Zuhri, flew to Pisa with her mother on an overnight flight on Wednesday under a scheme set up by the Italian government.
The University Hospital of Pisa said she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Friday, less than 48 hours after arriving. It said she had a “very complex clinical picture” and had suffered severe loss of weight and muscle. Italian news agencies reported she was suffering from severe malnutrition.
Cogat, the Israeli military body in charge of aid, said on Sunday that she had suffered from leukaemia.
In a statement, it said Israel “facilitates the medical transfer of patients, with a focus on children, and encourages countries around the world to make such requests”.” [emphasis added]
A footnote explaining that amendment was not added to the report and of course it is highly unlikely that those who had read it in the twenty-two hours between its initial publication and the addition of the information concerning the patient’s actual medical background would find reason to revisit it. Notably, the BBC’s original Twitter post stating “Gazan woman flown to Italy dies of malnutrition” is still online.
Once again we see that the BBC’s self-conscription to the Gaza ‘starvation’ campaign – along with the instructions issued to BBC staff on how to cover the humanitarian situation there – has created a confirmation bias that is seriously jeopardising the BBC’s claim to produce accurate and impartial reporting.
Update:
On the afternoon of August 18th – several hours after the publication of this post – the BBC News website added a footnote to Chater’s report which reads as follows:
In addition, the headline of the report was changed and now reads “Gazan woman flown to Italy dies in hospital” and the original BBC Tweet promoting the claim “Gazan woman flown to Italy dies of malnutrition” was removed and replaced.
Related Articles:
BBC WORLD SERVICE USES TWO-MONTH-OLD PHOTO TO PROMOTE A NARRATIVE
BBC AGAIN FAILS TO PROVIDE CONTEXT TO ‘STARVING GAZA BABY’ PHOTOS
