BBC forced to change headline after claiming Gazan 'cancer patient' had died of malnutrition
The broadcaster edited an online headline which stated 'severely emaciated' Marah Abu Zuhri, 20, died of malnutrition after being evacuated to Pisa on Wednesday night with her mother under a scheme set up by the Italian government.
She died on Friday at the University Hospital of Pisa after suffering a heart attack in what the hospital described as a 'very complex clinical picture.'
Italian news agencies said Miss Zuhri was suffering from severe malnutrition when she was admitted however Cogat, the Israeli military body in charge of aid, said she was suffering from leukaemia.
In a statement, a BBC spokesman said: 'We were not initially aware that Marah Abu Zuhri was being treated for leukaemia.'
The statement added: '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.'
In its explanatory note to the article, added today, the BBC said: '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 headline has been amended to remove the reference to malnutrition being the cause of death.'
A post from the official BBC News account on X saying Miss Zuhri had died of malnutrition had been viewed more than five million times.
Despite the climbdown, the BBC was criticised for spreading 'shocking misinformation' with the story, and for sharing 'anti-Israel rhetoric.'
Writing on X, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said: 'Will the BBC retract the story and apologise? Of course. The same day a Baskin Robbins [US ice cream chain] opens a franchise in hell.'
Sir Michael Ellis, a former attorney general, told The Telegraph: 'The BBC's anti-Israel reporting is an international embarrassment.
'Their persistent bias against Israel is dangerous, both to the cause of peace in the Middle East and more immediately to the Jewish community in the UK, which has seen unprecedented spikes in anti-Semitism thanks in part to shocking misinformation like this.'
Former Labour MP Lord Austin, now a cross-bench peer, added: 'Time and again the BBC is being caught out peddling misinformation and unfounded anti-Israel rhetoric.
'Once the world's greatest broadcaster, now known for dishonesty and bias, it's little wonder that the BBC has become the source of international derision.'
According to Italian media, Miss Zuhri weighed just 35kg when she was admitted to hospital in Italy.
They quoted Professor Sara Galimberti, who said that, despite being admitted with suspected leukaemia, two initial tests returned negative results for the disease.
She said her death could be linked to malnutrition or an 'unspecified pathology.'
Israel's government denies there is malnutrition in Gaza, blaming Hamas for the humanitarian crisis.
However a statement signed last week by the foreign ministers of the UK, Australia, Italy and Spain, among others, said 'famine is unfolding before our eyes.'
'Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,' it said.
'Humanitarian space must be protected, and aid should never be politicised.'
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