Have you noticed what the BBC left out of its reports on the floods in Gaza?

Heavy rain flooded about 70,000 tents in Gaza on 7 November. Two days later a sand embankment collapsed onto tents in Deir al-Balah and killed at least four people, three of them children. Middle East Eye named two of them: Mariam Nabhan and her son, Salah.

These families are in tents because Israel's genocide destroyed their homes. They are still in tents because Israel decides what enters Gaza. Even the Times of Israel said so in its own words:

The BBC never said that in its own words. It reported the floods twice, and both times it left Israel's restrictions to someone else to mention, then printed Israel's reason for them.

So we read every English report on the floods in our archive from 7 to 10 November: 41 reports from 23 outlets.

What we found

• 13 of 41 said in their own words that Israel restricts what enters Gaza. The Times of Israel did. The BBC, Reuters and ITV did not.
• 10 printed Israel's reason for the restrictions: that the goods could be used by Hamas or for military purposes. Only one of those ten, the Times of Israel, also stated the restrictions as fact. The BBC printed Israel's reason in both of its reports.
• 12 put "Hamas-run", "Hamas-led" or "Hamas" on the Gaza authorities whose figures they used. Anadolu wrote nine reports and used the label in none. Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye and DW did not use it either.
• 6 named Hamas as the killer of about 1,200 people in Israel and named nobody for the more than 74,000 people killed in Gaza: both BBC reports, Reuters and the two outlets that ran its copy, and DW.
• 7 called Israel's assault a war against Hamas, or a war between Israel and Hamas, in their own words: the same six reports, and ITV.

What the BBC wrote on 7 November

The BBC's first report leaves Israel's restrictions to one man, in its third paragraph: Unicef's Jonathan Veitch.

Then it moves on. Nine paragraphs later it comes back to the restrictions, with Israel's answer:

And it moves on again, to the parents AFP spoke to. It never asks what heavy machinery and engine oil have to do with military purposes. Unicef makes the charge, Israel gets the last word, and the BBC never states the restrictions as a fact.

The BBC is willing to state some things in its own voice. In the same report it wrote that Gaza's people were displaced "by the Israeli war against Hamas". That is Israel's description of its assault, and lower down the BBC attributes it to Israel itself: "Israel says it is targeting Hamas". One of Israel's claims went into the BBC's own voice. Israel's restrictions stayed in Unicef's.

The BBC also put "Hamas-run" on the health ministry, in the same sentence that says its figures "are considered reliable by the UN". In its last paragraph it cites the same ministry with no label at all, so the label is not what attributes the figures. What it adds is doubt, about figures the BBC itself says the UN trusts. Israel's claims in the same report carry no political label. They come from "Israel".

Then the walls. The BBC quotes Gaza's authorities on the "collapse of dozens of cracked walls and roofs", which injured people, some critically. It never says what cracked them. Anadolu reported the same authorities' figures with the cause: "dozens of walls previously damaged by Israeli bombardment had collapsed". Al Jazeera reported that "more than 4,000 buildings across the territory are estimated to require full or partial demolition due to damage caused by Israeli air strikes".

Our Watchdog read this report line by line. Read its analysis.

What the BBC wrote on 9 November

Two days later the BBC reported the embankment collapse, and did the same things again.

• Its first sentence cites "the Hamas-run health ministry". Its last cites "the territory's health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN", with no label.
• It reports that "UN agencies have called on Israeli authorities to allow in the specialist equipment and materials required", then gives Cogat's answer: "Israel would not permit the entry of equipment that could be used for military purposes by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups." It never says in its own words what Israel keeps out.
• It reports that "An estimated 80% of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged during the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the UN." It does not say who destroyed them.
• It ends: "The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Since then, more than 74,640 people have been killed in Gaza". Hamas is named again. Israel is not.

What the Times of Israel wrote

The Times of Israel printed the army's reasons at length, and it called Gaza's civil defence agency "Hamas-run" too. It still stated the ban as a fact. The BBC printed Israel's reason and left the fact to Unicef.

What Reuters wrote, and what Dawn did with it

Reuters' report ran almost word for word on NBC News and Al-Monitor. Dawn, in Pakistan, ran the same Reuters reporting inside its own report, and changed four things.

Same reporting. Reuters put a label on Gaza's officials, called Israel's assault a war against Hamas, named Hamas as a killer while naming nobody for Gaza's dead, and left the restrictions for Hamas to allege. Dawn dropped all four, and stated the restrictions as a fact. The wording was a choice.

What ITV, DW and Euronews wrote

• ITV News gave one line on what Israel lets into Gaza, and it was Cogat's: "It added COGAT will not allow the entry of any equipment into Gaza which could be used by Hamas." It cited "the Hamas-run government in Gaza" for the tents, and said Gaza's people were displaced by "the war between Israel and Hamas".
• DW wrote: "Some 74,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023." The next sentence has Hamas "killing some 1,200 Israelis". DW never mentioned the restrictions. It did report that a UN commission of inquiry has accused Israel of genocide, and it did not use the "Hamas-run" label.
• Euronews, running AFP's copy, wrote that the population was living in tents "as bombs destroyed huge swathes of the territory". Whose bombs, it did not say. It never mentioned the restrictions.

AFP's own copy shows what was available. Its report on the Board of Peace, carried by Al-Monitor, described "Israel, which controls all entry into the territory".

Who said it plainly

The passive death toll is not only a BBC habit. Al Jazeera wrote that "More than 74,600 people have been killed since Israel’s genocidal war began", and Middle East Eye did the same. One Anadolu report did not: "The Israeli army has killed more than 74,000 people". What sets the BBC, Reuters and DW apart is the sentence beside the toll, where Hamas does the killing and Israel does nothing.

The full count

Families in Gaza spent the weekend bailing water out of tents, while Israel bans the mobile homes that aid groups say would protect them. The Times of Israel told its readers that. The BBC told its readers Israel's reason.