BBC updates report on Gazan woman’s death after leukaemia diagnosis revealed

The BBC has said it was “not initially aware” of the true diagnosis of a Gazan patient it reported had died from malnutrition but has not issued a public apology.

On Saturday 16 August, BBC World Online published a report about a 20-year-old Gazan woman who allegedly “suffered from malnutrition” and died in a hospital in Italy where she had been transferred.

According to medical documents, the woman, Marah Abu Zuhri, was suffering from leukaemia. Malnutrition can be a symptom of the disease.

The headline has since been updated from “Gazan woman flown to Italy dies of malnutrition” to “Gazan woman flown to Italy dies in hospital.”

The article continues to state that she was “severely emaciated,” quotes Italian sources claiming she was suffering from severe malnutrition, and adds that “Cogat, the Israeli military body in charge of aid, said on Sunday that she had suffered from leukaemia.”

Twenty-four hours after the initial report, an amendment was added to the bottom of the story.

It reads: “Clarification 18 August: 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 in what the hospital described as a ‘very complex clinical picture’.”

In a statement, a BBC spokesperson told Jewish News: “We were not initially aware that Marah Abu Zuhri was being treated for leukaemia. 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.”