BBC pushes back after White House accuses it of relying on the word of Hamas

Trump administration Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took Britain’s national broadcaster to task for allegedly continually changing its story

By David Brummer, World Israel News

The UK broadcaster BBC has forcefully rejected accusations from the Trump administration that it blindly accepted Hamas’s version of events following a deadly incident near an aid distribution site in Rafah, Gaza, according to a BBC report on Wednesday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the British broadcaster of relying on “the word of Hamas with total truth” and claimed the BBC had retracted a story after realizing it had no evidence to support it.

Holding up printouts from the BBC website during a press briefing, she criticized the outlet for changing its headlines and fatality figures in coverage of the attack.

“Unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas with total truth,” Leavitt said. “We like to look into it… unlike the BBC.”

She claimed the BBC “had to correct and take down their entire story,” which she said undermined its credibility.

But the BBC quickly pushed back, calling the allegation “completely wrong.” In a statement, it said: “We did not remove any story and we stand by our journalism.”

The broadcaster explained that its reporting had been updated throughout the day — as is standard in fast-developing war zones — reflecting casualty figures from various sources.

Initial reports cited 15 dead from medics, followed by 31 from the Hamas-run health ministry, and later 21 confirmed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

A separate Red Cross statement said its field hospital in Rafah received 184 casualties, with 27 people confirmed dead, including eight who later succumbed to injuries.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its forces opened fire on a group that left a designated access route and approached military positions, adding that it was still investigating the incident.

Leavitt appeared to conflate the evolving news story with an unrelated piece by BBC Verify, a fact-checking unit, which debunked a viral video that falsely claimed to show the Rafah incident.

That video did not appear on BBC News channels and had no bearing on its reporting, the network said. “Conflating these two stories is simply misleading,” it added.

Senior BBC figures denounced the criticism as political.

Deputy director of BBC News Jonathan Munro said: “It’s important that accurate journalism is respected, and that governments call for free access to Gaza.”

International editor Jeremy Bowen added: “To be frank, the Trump administration does not have a good record when it comes to telling the truth. She’s making a political point.”

Bowen has been an implacable critic of Israel for decades.

He refused to back down from his reporting of the alleged IDF strike on the Al-Ahly hospital in 2023, finally admitting he “got it wrong,” although he simultaneously expressed he “had no regrets.”