BBC apologises for reporting a Hamas claim about IDF ‘summary executions’

The BBC has apologised for reporting an unconfirmed Hamas claims about the Israeli army carrying out “summary executions” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

BBC radio news bulletins reported Hamas’ allegation on Christmas Eve but the corporation has subsequently said sufficient efforts were not made to corroborate the claim made by the terror group.

News agency AFP had initially reported that Hamas had gathered testimonies showing 137 Palestinians had been executed since the start of Israel‘s offensive.

AFP said it could not verify the claim.

BBC radio bulletins also quoted the Israeli military saying it was unaware of the incident and Hamas does not “value truth.”

In a statement, the BBC said: “In overnight output [on BBC radio news bulletins] we ran a story about Hamas accusing the Israeli army of carrying out summary executions in the Gaza strip.

“This was a Hamas statement, but although the accusations were attributed and our story contained a response from the Israeli military saying they were unaware of the incident and that Hamas was a terrorist organisation that did not value truth, we had not made sufficient effort to seek corroborating evidence to justify reporting the Hamas claim. We apologise for this mistake.”