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Why Is the BBC Still Promoting Hamas’ Unverified and False Casualty Counts?
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.
Visitors to the BBC News website’s “Middle East” page early on the morning of September 10, were told that Israel had killed 40 people in a safe zone in the Gaza Strip:
Early versions of that report were credited to Rushdi Abualouf in Istanbul and Thomas Mackintosh in London, with the original headline reading as follows:
At least 40 people have been killed in southern Gaza and dozens more injured in Israeli strikes on a designated humanitarian zone, the Hamas-run Civil Defence authority said.
The Israeli military said its aircraft attacked an operations centre in Khan Younis belonging to Hamas militants using precision weaponry.
Local residents said three strikes targeted tents housing displaced people in the humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, west of the city of Khan Younis, causing huge craters.
“Forty people were killed and more than 60 injured, while many are still under the rubble,” the operations director of Hamas’s civil defence authority told the BBC.” […]
“Hamas rejected the Israeli military’s claims that there were Hamas fighters present in the area, calling it a “blatant” lie.
“The resistance has denied several times that any of its members exist within civilian gatherings or using these places for military purposes.” [emphasis added]
A later headline focused BBC audiences ‘attentions on the “safe zone” element of the story:
At least 40 people have been killed in southern Gaza and dozens more injured in Israeli strikes on a designated humanitarian zone, the Hamas-run Civil Defence authority has said.
The Israeli military said its aircraft attacked an operations centre in Khan Younis belonging to Hamas fighters, and it had taken steps to mitigate risk of harming civilians.
Local residents said three strikes targeted tents housing displaced people in the humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, west of the city of Khan Younis, causing seven metre-deep craters.
“Forty people were killed and more than 60 injured, while many are still under the rubble,” the operations director of Hamas’s Civil Defence authority told the BBC.
Despite plenty of past experience, clearly the BBC has yet to understand that its blind faith in claims put out by the Hamas-run Gaza civil defence is misplaced.
Some eight hours after the report’s original publication, its headline was changed again and David Gritten was added to the list of those credited:
The number of alleged casualties fell dramatically in that version of the BBC’s report:
At least 13 people have been killed in an overnight Israeli strike in the designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, a local hospital says.
Residents said three missiles hit a tented camp crowded with displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area, south-west of the city of Khan Younis, leaving 7m-deep (23ft) craters.
The Israeli military said its aircraft attacked what it called “a number of senior Hamas terrorists” operating there – a claim Hamas denied.
The military also disputed the initial death toll put out by the Hamas-run Civil Defence authority, which reported that rescue teams had recovered more than 40 bodies.
Nevertheless, that version of the report continued to repeat the original claim:
The Civil Defence’s operations director said overnight that more than 40 people were killed and more than 60 others were injured. He also warned that “many are still under the rubble”.
There was no immediate casualty report from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Later on Monday, an official at the nearby Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said 13 people killed in the strike had been brought there.
Readers were told that:
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said aircraft had conducted “a precise strike on a number of senior Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the humanitarian area”.
They included Samer Abu Daqqa, head of Hamas’s aerial unit, and Osama Tabesh, head of the observation and targets department in Hamas’s military intelligence headquarters, it added.
As reported by the Israeli media, the third senior Hamas officer killed in that strike was named Ayman Mabhouh — and all three were directly involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel as well as subsequent attacks on IDF troops.
Nevertheless, the BBC’s report continued with uncritical promotion of blatant Hamas propaganda:
The IDF accused Hamas of embedding its operatives and military infrastructure in the humanitarian zone and using civilians as human shields.
A Hamas statement denounced the strike on al-Mawasi as a “heinous massacre” and rejected the IDF’s claim that it had a command centre there.
“This is a clear lie that aims to justify these ugly crimes. The resistance has denied several times that any of its members exist within civilian gatherings or use these places for military purposes,” it said.
Roughly an hour later, the headline to that BBC report was changed yet again.
That version of the report likewise uncritically promotes Hamas talking points, including via an unidentified “freelance journalist”:
The Israeli military said its aircraft attacked what it called “a number of senior Hamas terrorists” operating there — a claim Hamas denied.”
“Aya Madi, a displaced mother of seven from the southern city of Rafah, told a freelance journalist working for the BBC: “We woke up to nothing but sand and fire. […]
She said all of those killed were civilians, adding that there was “not a single resistance fighter”.
A Hamas statement denounced the strike on al-Mawasi as a “heinous massacre” and rejected the IDF’s claim that it had a command centre there.
“This is a clear lie that aims to justify these ugly crimes. The resistance has denied several times that any of its members exist within civilian gatherings or use these places for military purposes,” it said.
In the space of about 12 hours, the number of people killed according to the BBC went down by over half: from 40 to 19. The story behind that dramatic change is portrayed in that version of Abualouf and Gritten’s report as follows:
The [Israeli] military also disputed the initial death toll put out by the Hamas-run Civil Defence authority, which reported that rescue teams had recovered more than 40 bodies. […]
The Civil Defence’s operations director said overnight that more than 40 people were killed and more than 60 others were injured.
Later on Monday, the nearby Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said 13 people killed in the strike had been brought there. […]
In the afternoon, the Hamas-run health ministry said in a statement that hospitals had received a total of 19 bodies and more than 60 wounded people, some of whom were in a serious condition. It did not say how many were men, women or children.
In other words, sometime overnight on September 9-10, the BBC was told that 40 people had been killed in a strike in Khan Younis.
Whether that information came directly from one of the Hamas bodies promoting that number — the Gaza civil defense and the Hamas Government Media Office — or from a different source quoting them is unclear, but given that Istanbul-based Rushdi Abualouf (who just last month attended Hamas’ memorial for Ismail Haniyeh in Doha) was involved in the writing of all versions of this report, it would seem likely that he was the journalist who received that information.
Apparently though, the BBC has learned nothing from its past experiences and so even though it could not independently verify that remarkably swiftly announced alleged casualty toll — and despite knowing that its sources were the untrustworthy branches of the terrorist organization that initiated the current war — it decided to nevertheless promote it worldwide.
In this case, however, the IDF quickly challenged Hamas’ claims:
“In general, and according to a preliminary review, the numbers published by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza, which has consistently broadcast lies and false information throughout the war, do not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike,” the military said.
That led Hamas — this time via its health ministry — to issue a “clarification” including a much lower casualty count, and the BBC had to amend its report accordingly.
Hamas, however, got what it wanted: eight hours of worldwide headlines on the website of the world’s largest media organization about Israel killing 40 civilians in a safe zone, and repeated promotion of propaganda concerning its use of human shields.
The BBC nevertheless continues to claim that it produces news you can trust.
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 Is the BBC Still Promoting Hamas’ Unverified and False Casualty Counts? 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.