Israel accuses BBC of ‘modern blood libel’ over reporting of hospital strike

BBC defends initial comments, saying they were made in immediate aftermath but were then clarified in later reports

The Israeli government has accused the BBC of perpetuating a “modern blood libel” in its reporting of the catastrophic explosion at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident on Tuesday evening, a BBC reporter suggested that Israel was likely to be at fault. This was likened by the official Israeli government account on X, formerly known as Twitter, to the antisemitic lie that Jews have murdered Christian boys to use their blood for religious rituals.