BBC’s Gaza Coverage: New Report Reveals Deep Bias

I saw this before.along with a picture of the just the lower limbs of two babies who suffered from a genetic condition as ‘evidence’ of malnutrition. I mean there’s no way that if there were starving babies and children in Gaza (and I for one HOPE there is not) that SM wouldn’t be flooded with visible evidence.

Palestinians have documented high rates of consanguinity which contributes to genetic defects which can make babies and children look as if they are malnourished.

How disgusting to use these babies medical conditions for propaganda purposes.

www.unicef.org/sop/what-we-do/health-and-nutrition

I really enjoyed his writing about China, about the oppression that goes on behind closed doors, and about their grip tightening across the world. Things like the Fentanyl crisis in the US - I found it really interesting and very few real journalists report on this stuff as people are only interested in celebrity break-ups and bashing Israel. As you say, he thinks on his feet which means he can answer questions and I like that about him. Very few people are actually informed on the things they speak about.

Right, so you're not going to acknowledge that you just tried to pass off a seriously sick child born with a deformity that Israel has evacuated for treatment as being starved.

Ahem!

As I said, I go off Hamas' figures as they are all that's available (and they are still likely bull shit). They said 29 people have starved to death, and some weeks later they said 58. That is a pretty simple explanation even you should be able to understand.

If helpful, we do also know that in that same time period approximately 2.4 million children under 5 have actually starved to death,

India – ~500,000
Nigeria – ~310,000
Pakistan – ~250,000
Ethiopia – ~180,000
Congo – ~160,000
Sudan – ~150,000
Somalia – ~120,000
Yemen – ~110,000
Afghanistan – ~90,000
South Sudan – ~80,000

Of course here you are squabbling with me over 20 and trying to pass off kids born with deformities as being starved by Israel.

I am not sure if you are persuading yourself that you care about starving children, but for avoidance of any doubt you are not persuading me that you're interested in any starving children unless you can (at the very least attempt to) pin it on Israel.

He's a 'conservative' thinker, though I've noticed he can think on his feet and I thought he actually tried to keep his answers relevant to the question (which is a rarity on 'question time' with all the political point scoring ).

His books are what you would expect but he writes coherently and well.

He's spent a lot of time in various trouble spots including Israel and produced much journalistic content. He's a friend of Israel and wary of the spread of extreme islam. So on this board, and probably the left side of mumsnet, that's his bias.

Obviously I feel very sorry for baby Siwar and her family @Whatsinanamehey

But I feel it's disingenuous of you to present her case as "just one example" of babies suffering extreme malnutrition as if there are many like her.

Sinwar had specific medical needs from birth. As written in the Guardian From birth, Siwar had a problem with her oesophagus that has made it hard for her to drink breast milk and left her dependent on specialised formula, which is in critically short supply.

I'm not denying that there is a shortage of specialised formula in Gaza which is a tragedy. for her. But her photo is being used over and over again as propaganda to prove malnutrition amongst babies in Gaza, and normally without the accompanying information that she cannot tolerate ordinary baby milk formula or breast milk because of her complex medical needs.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/11/there-is-suffering-everywhere-you-look-says-mother-of-emaciated-baby-girl-trapped-in-gaza

I think if there's anyone proving a point well it's your incorrect claims of fact checking and cross checking etc are lacking. This isnt the first time either.

The article you sent me literally describes the girl is ill and needs tests and some kind of special milk formula. She has been evacuated for medical care.

This is a good example of a BBC article printing something misleading but the full story is that she was born with an esophageal defect that prevented normal breast feeding and made her dependent on special formula, which has been extremely scarce because there is a WAR.

I Googled her condition and here's what I found:

• Feeding difficulty: A defect in the esophagus means milk or formula can't pass properly from the mouth to the stomach, or worse, it goes into the lungs. This makes normal feeding impossible.
• Special nutrition required: These babies usually need feeding tubes or specially prepared formulas and hospital care, especially in the first few months.
• Frequent vomiting, aspiration, and infections: Without proper treatment, babies struggle to gain weight, may choke while feeding, and often suffer from repeated lung infections or pneumonia.
• Delayed growth: Even in the best medical environments, these babies are typically small and can remain underweight for some time due to ongoing feeding difficulties and poor absorption.

So in Siwar’s case, even without the war, she would likely have been at high medical risk and needed urgent surgery and consistent, specialised nutrition. The fact that she was born into a warzone with collapsed healthcare only amplified the consequences of a very serious pre-existing condition.

I am very glad that the Jordanian authorities were able to extract her by ambulance which was done with Israel's full cooperation.

Thanks for proving my point very well.

And this report is from May.

No it isnt. Babies have been dying from malnutrition before you last checked. This really disingenuous. The UN website and UN organisations on the ground have been reporting of this throughout the war.

Another example

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68483180.amp

I don't check daily, but the last report I read was 29 and included no children. I take the data from Hamas own reports, which is all that is available.

As you can see from this article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip_famine?utm_source=chatgpt.com

"58 people are recorded to have died of starvation or related causes between March 2 and May 25, 2025, including 41 deaths reported on July 8, 2024, per Gaza’s Health Ministry"

So they only updated this yesterday.

When I last checked a few weeks ago it was 29 in total and none were kids.

So my conclusion was babies are not starving. Fair enough, no?!

This is just one example.
Or does this baby not look malnutrioned enough for you?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0g45z792do.amp

Well you clearly have not really looked have you. This is unbelievable.

Here is what I have seen:

Almost entirely normal looking people
Some skinny ones
Some actually fat ones

On three occasions I have seen images where the people looked clearly starving.

One turned out to have a degenerative disease.

One turned out to be in Sudan passed off as Palestine.

And one was the two male Israel hostages who came out looking like they'd been in Dachau.

Here is what starving babies look like: https://abcnews.go.com/International/85000-children-yemen-starved-death-save-children-report/story?id=59340453 although they are in Yemen so you will obvs not give a single fuck.

Where are you getting the figure of 29 from? That you have double and cross checked?

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/05/1163166

This report states atleast 57 children have died from malnutrition. This figure doesn't take adults into account.

@ForgesOfEmpires you haven't seen any Palestinians who look malnutritioned during the war?

Palestinian parents have been trying to evacuate their injured children to countries who have said they are happy to treat them. The problem is they need permission from Israel. And Israel often deny them permission to do so.

I think all reporting is biased on this issue now.

When I hear reports, I try and verify them. Most things that genuinely happened in Gaza are filmed. I cross check data if I can. Then I apply as much logic to it as I can.

Do I think kids have had their limbs blown off?
Yes, that is a very common injury in airstrikes unfortunately and nobody has evacuated these children.

Do I think Israel is deliberately targeting children?
Of course not, the only people who benefit from injured or dead Palestinians children are Hamas.

Do I think they are starving babies?
Again, this wouldn't make any sense and I have checked on the Hamas figures submitted to the UN and only 29 people have died of malnutrition since the war started (less than the UK!) and none are noted as babies. I'd imagine if people were starving we would have images like we do from Yemen or Sudan.

One thing I have never seen before is so much "fake news" surrounding any conflict. It's very hard to work out what's true, and sometimes you have to wait a while for the truth to unravel.

Thank you @JoyDivision79 & @ForgesOfEmpires

I read some Douglas Murray recently. He is very right-wing socially. He is potentially quite xenophobic. I also think he understand the middle east very, very well and speaks very accurately on it. I also think he understand China and the threats to the west globally extremely well. I have never read a book by anyone in my life that wasn't biased :)

I haven’t read Douglas Murray but I have heard people calling him biased. I don’t know if that’s true or untrue.

Like you I would like to find a neutral source of information.

Thank you 🙏. I'm reading Douglas Murray's new book ATM. It's really insightful and it feels like this is not bullshit to me.

I appreciate i have nothing to counter this position. I'm not confident Al Jazeera would be valid at all either.

@JoyDivision79 I have not found any neutral media sources on this war. Some are very obviously biased like Al Jazeera, others less so like the BBC.

The way I deal with it is to read a range of right wing and left wing sources and decide myself where I feel the truth lies, from the limited information we have.

In the end I think it comes down to trust. Some of us trust that Israel aren’t monsters so tend to believe they behave rationally rather than - for example- killing civilians because they enjoy it. Others take the opposite view.

@TheignT I haven’t seen anyone suggest that the Israel government or IDF don’t ever lie.

They are organisations made up of humans and guess what: humans lie.

Those of us who support Israel do not do so because we think they are perfect.

Much like I don’t think my own government is perfect- far from it - but I would support them over a hostile force who attacked UK citizens & started a war.

I recall reading a whole thread about it once, where a poster was insisting that Israel were allowing in enough food according to their calculations but had calculated it wrong according to the recommended amount.

People have checked and still calculated it incorrectly. It has happened before.