On the night between February 3rd and 4th a group of Palestinian terrorists attacked IDF soldiers on the Israeli side of the ‘yellow line’ in the northern Gaza Strip, seriously wounding a reservist officer. Strikes were carried out in response.
Later on the morning of February 4th the BBC News website published a report originally credited to David Gritten and headlined “Israeli strikes kill 17 in Gaza, hospitals say, after soldier wounded by gunfire”. Later versions of that report – now headlined “Israeli strikes kill 20 in Gaza, hospitals say, after soldier wounded by gunfire” – add Yolande Knell to the credits.
The version of that report currently appearing online opens by telling readers that: [emphasis added]
“At least 20 Palestinians, including several children and a paramedic, have been killed and almost 40 others wounded in Israeli strikes in Gaza, hospitals say.
The Israeli military said tanks and aircraft carried out “precise strikes” against what it called “terrorists” who opened fire on troops in the north of the strip, seriously wounding an officer.
It added that the attack happened close to the Yellow Line, beyond which Israeli forces are stationed in Gaza, and that it constituted a “blatant violation” of the three-month-old ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Hamas accused Israel of using the shooting as “a flimsy pretext to justify the continuation of killing and aggression against our people”.”
Readers go on to find versions of the events – some taken from Reuters reporting – provided by the Hamas government-run Shifa hospital, the Nasser hospital (where Hamas runs an interrogations unit), an eyewitness who also spoke to other media outlets and a representative of the Hamas-run Gaza civil defence agency, along with comment from the Palestinian Red Crescent and the ICRC.
“Nasser hospital in the city of Khan Younis said four dead, including one child, were brought there following strikes on tents in the southern Qizan Rashwan area.
Another two children, sisters Rahaf and Remas Abu Jamea, and paramedic Hussein al-Samiri were later killed in the coastal al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, hospital officials said.
A first responder from the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency, Jihad al-Hinnawi, told Reuters that the paramedic had rushed to help victims of a strike on a tent in the coastal al-Mawasi area and was then killed by a second strike on the same location.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said separately that Samiri was killed “while carrying out his humanitarian duty in Khan Younis”. It also accused the Israeli military of a “grave violation” of international humanitarian law, which protects medical personnel.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “appalled” to learn of Samiri’s killing and stressed that it was “unacceptable that first responders in Gaza continue to face risk to their lives while carrying out humanitarian mission”.”
Only in the fifth version of the BBC’s report – which appeared around five hours after its original publication – were readers informed (in paragraph 14 out of 20) of the context to that strike in al-Mawasi.
“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike in al-Mawasi targeted a platoon commander of the elite Nukhba forces of Hamas’s military wing, whom it named as Bilal Abu Assi. It alleged that he had led the attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October 2023 and “likely took part in holding deceased hostages captive throughout the war”.
“The IDF is aware of the claim that several uninvolved civilians, including a medical staff member, were hit in the strike. Prior to and during the strike, steps were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians,” it added.”
Gritten and Knell did not bother to inform their readers that around a quarter of the residents of Nir Oz were murdered or taken hostage during that attack by over 500 terrorists led by Abu Assi.
Neither has the BBC’s report been updated to inform audiences that among the additional terrorists targeted in the strikes carried out on February 4th were the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Northern Gaza Brigade commander Ali Raziana and Hamas operative (and policeman) Muhammad al-Habil, who murdered hostage Noa Marciano at Shifa hospital.
As readers may recall, in November 2023 the BBC repeatedly amplified Hamas’ false claim that Noa Marciano had been killed in an Israeli airstrike and in February 2024 it again promoted that disinformation, despite having reported three months earlier that the IDF had confirmed that she had been murdered at the hospital.
The day after the appearance of Gritten and Knell’s report it was reported that another Hamas terrorist had been targeted in the February 4th strikes. Basel al-Himouni (also Haimouni or Haymuni), originally from Hebron, was released to the Gaza Strip in the 2011 as part of the Shalit deal while serving a 23-year sentence for attempted murder. In 2013 the ITIC reported that Himouni continued his terrorist activities from the Gaza Strip, handling a Hamas cell in Hebron.
In other words, although at least four of the “20 Palestinians” reported killed by the BBC in this article were terrorists (with no need for “what it called” qualification) and at least one of the “several children” killed was the daughter of the PIJ commander, the BBC – including its fact checking department BBC Verify – has shown little interest in communicating that information to its audiences.
That pattern was also seen in BBC reporting on previous strikes, which are referenced by Gritten and Knell as follows:
“On Sunday [sic], more than 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza. The IDF said its forces launched those strikes after gunmen emerged from a tunnel in the southern Rafah area, beyond the Yellow Line.”
As we noted at the time, that pattern has been displayed repeatedly since the ceasefire came into effect in October 2025.
Near-daily ceasefire violations by Palestinian terrorist organisations are for the most part ignored. Any mention of such violations is usually accompanied – as is the case in this report by Gritten and Knell – by promotion of the “both sides” narrative:
“Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of near-daily violations since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October.”
BBC reporting relates primarily to Israeli responses to those violations and focuses audience attentions on the numbers of children and women reported killed by Hamas-run agencies. It fails to adequately inform on the topic of the terrorist targets of such strikes, which often become known after a report has been hastily published, meaning that the BBC can reply to complaints about omissions concerning the actual targets with its now standard “that was what we knew at the time” response.
Not only does that mean that the BBC’s “permanent public record” fails to meet its mission of providing present and future audiences with accurate accounts of events because it serially erases terrorists from the stories that it purports to report. It also means that BBC audiences are being denied information which would contribute to their understanding of the way in which continued terrorist activity is currently influencing events in the post-ceasefire Gaza Strip.
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