The BBC has issued an apology for broadcasting an unverified claim by Hamas, alleging that the Israeli army engaged in "summary executions" of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
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BBC radio news bulletins reported on Hamas' accusation on Christmas Eve, and later acknowledged that the corporation fell short in making adequate efforts to substantiate the claim from the designated terror group.
The source of the story traces back to the AFP news agency, which reported that Hamas had compiled testimonies indicating that 137 Palestinians had been executed since the commencement of Israel's offensive. Notably, AFP clarified that it could not independently verify the claim.
BBC radio bulletins quoted the Israeli military stating they were unaware of the incident and emphasized that Hamas does not "value truth." Despite these counterstatements, the broadcaster deemed it necessary to issue a correction. In an official statement, the BBC acknowledged, "In overnight output [on BBC radio news bulletins] we ran a story about Hamas accusing the Israeli army of carrying out summary executions in the Gaza strip," the BBC statement read.
“This was a Hamas statement, but although the accusations were attributed and our story contained a response from the Israeli military saying they were unaware of the incident and that Hamas was a terrorist organization that did not value truth, we had not made sufficient effort to seek corroborating evidence to justify reporting the Hamas claim. We apologize for this mistake.”
This was not the first instance of the BBC acknowledging errors in its coverage of the Gaza war. Last November the network issued an apology for erroneously reporting that Israeli troops had specifically targeted medics and Arab speakers in a raid on Gaza's primary hospital, Al-Shifa.
The BBC also said it was “wrong to speculate” on who was responsible for the blast at Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital last October. The BBC attributed the attack to Israel.