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Why Does the BBC Continue to Slander Israel About Hospital Anti-Terror Operation?

The BBC logo is seen at the entrance at Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in central London. Photo by Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Sipa USA.

Previously we have discussed written and filmed BBC reports on the topic of a counter-terrorism operation in late December at the Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

BBC News website coverage of that story and its wider background did not however end there. In the days that followed, visitors to the site’s ‘Middle East’ page found two reports promoting one-sided messaging but omitting relevant information.

A December 30 report credited to David Gritten and Yolande Knell – “WHO appeals for end to attacks on Gaza’s hospitals” – promotes (and links to) a statement put out by the head of the World Health Organization in relation to “attacks on hospitals in Gaza,” but fails to provide readers with relevant information in the BBC’s own words concerning the exploitation of Gaza Strip hospitals by terrorist organizations.

That obviously crucially relevant part of the story – which Yolande Knell did manage to report over a decade ago – is similarly absent from the report’s later promotion of similar messaging from the ICRC.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also warned on Monday that hostilities in and around hospitals had “obliterated the healthcare system in northern Gaza, putting civilians at an unacceptably grave risk of going without lifesaving care”.

“Medical facilities have protections and civilians have protections in situations of conflict. These need to be respected and this is our constant call,” spokeswoman Sarah Davies told the BBC.”

The report also promotes statements concerning the detention of the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital from the WHO head and from an American NGO called MedGlobal, which describes the apparently Hamas linked head of that military medical facility as “our lead physician in Gaza” [emphasis added].

And in a related press release, it claims that, “Healthcare personnel and facilities are protected under International Humanitarian Law and must never become targets in hostilities” without clarifying that protected status is lost if a medical facility is used for military purposes, as is the case at the Kamal Adwan hospital.

Dr Tedros also joined rights groups and relatives calling for the immediate release of Kamal Adwan’s director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who was detained by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that his hospital was a Hamas “stronghold” and that troops had killed about 20 “terrorists” and detained 240 others during the raid. It added that Dr Abu Safiya was among those taken for questioning and that he was “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative”.

The military did not provide evidence for the allegations, which Hamas dismissed as “lies”.

US-based MedGlobal condemned the detention of Dr Abu Safiya, who was its lead physician in Gaza, as “not only unjust” but also “a violation of international humanitarian law, which upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones”.

The following day – December 31 – the BBC News website published a report by David Gritten titled “UN says Israeli attacks pushing Gaza healthcare towards total collapse.”

The UN Human Rights Office says Israeli attacks on and around hospitals have pushed Gaza’s healthcare system to “the brink of total collapse” and raised serious concerns about war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A new report describes a pattern in which Israeli forces struck, besieged and forcibly evacuated hospitals, leading to patients dying or being killed.

It acknowledges Israel’s allegations that hospitals have been used by Palestinian armed groups, but says the evidence is “vague”.

Around four hours after the report’s initial publication, the following two paragraphs were added:

Israel’s mission in Geneva said the report was an expression of what it called the UN Human Rights Office’s “politically-driven obsession with Israel“ and that it “relied on information from Hamas health authorities”. It stressed that Israeli forces operated in accordance with international law and would “never target innocent civilians”.

“It is the murderous terrorist organisation Hamas that uses civilians as human shields, and uses hospitals for terror activity,” it added.

Once again, the BBC’s reporting failed to provide audiences with information concerning the long-known exploitation of medical facilities by terrorist organizations in the corporation’s own words, thereby reducing the issue to one of competing narratives. Notably too, Gritten has nothing to tell its audiences about the failure of the UN and its assorted departments to condemn – and act against – that Hamas strategy which is detrimental to the healthcare of civilians in the Gaza Strip, before going on to state:

“As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Tuesday. […]

Medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit, or are not used to commit, outside their humanitarian function, acts harmful to the enemy. Even then, any attack must still comply with the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack.

The OHCHR said intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded were treated, intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, and intentionally launching disproportionate attacks were war crimes.

And under certain circumstances, the deliberate destruction of healthcare facilities may also amount to a form of collective punishment, which would also constitute a war crime.

Gritten did however find fit to amplify Hamas denials: “Hamas and medical staff have denied that the hospitals have been used by armed groups.”

As is the case in most of the BBC’s reporting on events in the Gaza Strip, both those reports include the following context: “Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.”

Notably, the BBC serially refrains from informing its audiences that 100 hostages still remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip, and that – as the BBC knows – some of the hostages were held in hospitals.

These two reports once again clearly show that the BBC has chosen to amplify narratives and politically motivated campaigns rather than to report news and fulfill its obligation to provide its audiences with the full range of information which would enable them to become “informed citizens.”

Hadar Sela is the co-editor of CAMERA UK — an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Why Does the BBC Continue to Slander Israel About Hospital Anti-Terror Operation? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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