BBC issues correction on Gaza death story amid reporting concerns on Israel war

The BBC was forced to issue another correction on Monday after reporting that a Gazan woman had died from malnutrition, when in fact she was suffering from leukemia.

On Sunday, the BBC ran a story headlined “Malnourished Gazan woman flown to Italy dies in hospital.” BBC journalist Rachel Muller-Heyndyk reported that the woman “was evacuated to Italy for treatment while severely emaciated,” and highlighted, “The UN has warned of widespread malnutrition in Gaza” that has largely been blamed on Israel.

“The University Hospital of Pisa said that she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Friday, less than 48 hours after arriving,” the initial report said. “The hospital said she had suffered severe loss of weight and muscle, while Italian news agencies reported she was suffering from severe malnutrition.”

However, the headline was later changed to “Gazan woman flown to Italy dies in hospital” and added that further reporting from both the hospital and Israeli aid officials found a “very complex clinical picture,” including that the woman had suffered from leukemia. The BBC published a clarification at the very bottom of the article.

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“This article’s headline originally said that Marah Abu Zuhri died of malnutrition, with the introduction stating that she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Friday,” the correction read. “The headline has been amended to remove the reference to malnutrition being the cause of death in what the hospital described as a ‘very complex clinical picture.’”

In a comment to Fox News Digital, a BBC spokesperson said that it was not aware of the woman’s leukemia before publishing and corrected the headline and subsequent tweet on the story after learning more details.

“We were not initially aware that Marah Abu Zuhri was being treated for leukemia,” the statement read. “In line with usual editorial practice, we added this to the story after the Israeli authorities put the information into the public domain, in what the hospital has described as ‘a very complex clinical picture.’ We have amended the original headline and tweet and added an explanatory note.”

The BBC has had a long history of issuing corrections and apologies regarding its reporting on the Israel-Hamas war, with errors that tend to favor or sympathize with the terrorist organization.

The BBC was one of several news organizations that rushed to report false claims made by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry that Israel had bombed the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, resulting in 500 civilian casualties, shortly after the October 7 terrorist attack.

In November 2023, the BBC apologized after misquoting a Reuters report and distorting a quote by an IDF spokesman claiming the IDF was “targeting people including medical teams as well as Arab speakers” in Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital. The IDF spokesman had actually said that Arab-speaking soldiers were on the ground to ensure aid made its way to the hospital.

The BBC apologized for reporting unproven claims about Israel carrying out “summary executions” of Gaza civilians in January 2024.

In February, the BBC apologized after its anchor Nicky Schiller referred to Israeli hostages as “prisoners” on air. 

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Also in February, the BBC pulled the documentary “Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone” from its streaming platform after unintentionally profiling a Hamas member’s 13-year-old son in the film. The BBC issued an apology for being unaware of the connection at the time and added a new note to the film to offer more context.

An internal BBC report in July found that the broadcaster breached editorial guidelines for the film after it was learned that three members of the production company Hoyo Films, which produced the film, knew that the boy’s father was a Hamas official. 

The probe reprimanded the BBC for not being “sufficiently proactive” with its due diligence ahead of broadcast and admonished it for a “lack of critical oversight of unanswered or partially answered questions” regarding the documentary.

Last month, The New York Times also had to issue a note that an emaciated child displayed on the front page as evidence of famine in Gaza was not “born healthy” as reported, but was actually suffering from a preexisting condition unrelated to the conflict with Israel.

Fox News’ David Spector contributed to this report.