The Israeli Foreign Ministry has accused the BBC of “deliberately lying” about the recent wave of violence in Gaza and southern Israel.
Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, singled out an article’s headline which claimed an Israeli airstrike killed a woman and a baby, but failed to mention that Hamas rocket fire provoked Israeli warplanes and attack helicopters to conduct raids against suspected terrorist sites and hideouts.
READ MORE: WATCH Explosions Erupt as Israel Hits Targets in Gaza
In a tweet posted on Thursday morning from his official account, the spokesperson said he has requested the Israeli Embassy in London to file a written complaint against the public service broadcaster.
.@BBCWorld this is a formal complaint by @IsraelMFA.This title is a deliberate misrepresentation of reality (that’s the polite equivalent of “ this is a LIE”, if you don’t get it). Israelis were targeted by Hamas and IDF acts to protect them.Change it IMMEDIATELY!!! @IsraelMFA pic.twitter.com/pqjXuopXgO
— Emmanuel Nahshon (@EmmanuelNahshon) August 9, 2018
Mr. Nahshon also said the BBC must “immediately” change the article’s headline.
Shortly after the tweet was posted, the BBC updated the headline, adding more context to the story. The new version mentioned that the airstrikes were carried out in retaliation to rocket attacks targeting southern Israel.
"Although the original headline was not factually incorrect, we updated it to add more context to the story," BBC wrote.
Since Wednesday evening, in excess of 150 rockets have indiscriminately been launched at Israel, with the bulk of them landing outside cities and settlements, injuring seven civilians.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) subsequently destroyed over 140 Hamas targets to degrade the group’s ability to launch similar attacks against Israel in the future.
“We responded by targeting a cement factory used by Hamas to build terror tunnels, a maritime terror tunnel shaft, & several terror sites in military compounds,” the IDF said in a statement.
READ MORE: Israeli Jets Attack Over 140 Targets in Gaza, Israel Defense Forces Report
