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The BBC has rejected claims from the White House that they 'take the word of Hamas' and had taken down a story, a spokesperson has said the statement from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was "completely wrong."
Karoline Leavitt accused the BBC on Tuesday (June 3) of retracting a story and changing the number of casualties in the stories headline while reporting on a shooting near an aid distribution site on Sunday.
The corporation said its coverage was updated with new figures throughout the day, which is "totally normal practice on any fast-moving news story".
They explained that a BBC Verify examined footage of a viral video and found that it "was not linked to the aid distribution centre it claimed to show" but this video was not used in BBC news reporting, it was simply an explainer dissuading miss information.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The claim the BBC took down a story after reviewing footage is completely wrong. We did not remove any story and we stand by our journalism.
“Our news stories and headlines about Sunday’s aid distribution centre incident were updated throughout the day with the latest fatality figures as they came in from various sources.
“These were always clearly attributed, from the first figure of 15 from medics, through the 31 killed from the Hamas-run health ministry to the final Red Cross statement of ‘at least 21’ at their field hospital.
“This is totally normal practice on any fast-moving news story.
“Completely separately, a BBC Verify online report on Monday reported a viral video posted on social media was not linked to the aid distribution centre it claimed to show.
“This video did not run on BBC news channels and had not informed our reporting. Conflating these two stories is simply misleading.
“It is vital to bring people the truth about what is happening in Gaza. International journalists are not currently allowed into Gaza and we would welcome the support of the White House in our call for immediate access.”
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