The BBC has been forced on the defensive after Donald Trump‘s White House accused the national broadcaster of taking down a story about the Israel-Hamas war.
Yesterday, Trump’s press sec Karoline Leavitt claimed that the BBC had to “correct and take down” an article about fatalities and injuries near an aid distribution centre in Rafah, Gaza.
The BBC hit back this morning, saying Leavitt was “completely wrong” to say the story was removed and had instead been updating its headline through the day.
“We did not remove any story and we stand by our journalism,” said a BBC statement. “Our news stories and headlines about Sunday’s aid distribution centre incident were updated throughout the day with the latest fatality figures as they came in from various sources. These were always clearly attributed, from the first figure of 15 from medics, through the 31 killed from the Hamas-run health ministry to the final Red Cross statement of ‘at least 21’ at their field hospital. This is totally normal practice on any fast-moving news story.”
The BBC concluded that it would “welcome the support of the White House” in its call for “immediate access” to Gaza, with international journalists currently banned from the region.
But this may not be the case anytime soon. Leavitt had earlier criticized “some in the media,” appearing to refer in part to the BBC, as “taking the word of Hamas with total truth.”
BBC reporting on the 20-month-long-war has been consistently under the spotlight, thrown up in the past 24 hours by Leavitt’s criticism.
At least 27 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire close to the aid point on Tuesday, Hamas-backed local officials said. Speaking earlier to the BBC, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Gaza has become “worse than hell on Earth.”
