WH Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Calls Out BBC for Libelous Claim About IDF and Aid for Gaza

On Sunday, as Townhall has been covering, Mahomed Soliman allegedly attacked those participating in a "Run for Their Lives" in Boulder, Colorado, an event which was in support of the hostages still being held in Gaza after they were taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The attack took place right after news outlets, including the BBC, had published a libelous claim that the IDF had shot and killed those in Gaza looking for aid.

During Tuesday's White House press briefing, a reporter actually repeated the falsehood, also citing the Red Cross, which has been particularly useless when it comes to helping the approximately 250 hostages that Hamas took. The reporter asked Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt if the administration was "aware," and what they were doing about it.

After being completely debunked, a reporter in the White House briefing repeated the libelous claim the IDF opened fire on Gazans trying to get aid. Even the aid group said that did not occur, TWO DAYS AGO, and yet here is this person repeating the Hamas narrative. Despicable.
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) June 3, 2025

"The administration is aware of those reports and we are currently looking into the veracity of them. Because, unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don't take the word of Hamas with total truth. We like to look into it when they speak, unlike the BBC, who had multiple headlines," Leavitt responded, going on to mention several headlines. "They wrote, 'Israeli tank kills 26,' 'Israeli tank kills 21,' 'Israeli gunfire kills 31,' 'Red Cross says 21 people were killed in an aid incident' and, oh, wait, they had to correct and take down their entire story, saying 'we reviewed the footage and couldn't find any evidence of anything.' Oh, okay," Leavitt continued.

"So, we’re going to look into reports before we can from them from this podium and before we take action and I suggest that journalists who actually care about truth do the same to reduce the amount of misinformation that is going around on this front," the press secretary made clear.

.@PressSec calls out the LYING BBC and tells journalists to look into the TRUTH before they take action. 🔥

"We look into reports before we confirm them from this podium, & I SUGGEST journalist who actually care about truth do the same to reduce the amount of misinformation." pic.twitter.com/kTLbpr4AvM
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 3, 2025

https://t.co/WfnQiduWd4 https://t.co/OeEorefVU1
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) June 3, 2025

The back and forth between Leavitt and the reporter came as the BBC had to correct the reporting, as Leavitt referenced. Evidently, though, it came too little too late, especially as a reporter in the room still repeated such libel.

The BBC News website has a page on "BBC Verify Live: Using forensic techniques to investigate Gaza aid incident," with one of the posts from Monday detailing how "Claim graphic video is linked to aid distribution site in Gaza is incorrect."

The blurb references a journalist from Al Jazeera, which is a propaganda outlet being sued by the family of Shiri Bibas, one of the hostages taken on October 7 with her young children, with all three of them murdered by Hamas. The propaganda outlet has been kicked out of Israel and has also been banned in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates for inciting terrorism, though the BBC does not mention this.

"The circumstances of this strike are unclear. The Israel Defense Forces has been approached for comment," the blurb also mentions.

BBC yesterday: Israel did horrific things

BBC today: Seems we got one wrong. Oops. haha. Our bad. pic.twitter.com/6Yb8QCZpWd
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) June 2, 2025

Problems still abound with the BBC and their coverage. Many of their reports not only cite the Red Cross, but the United Nations, a particularly anti-Israel body, which also includes the terrorist-filled UNRWA as one of its agencies.

Headlines abound, even as recently as on Tuesday, with claims such as how "At least 27 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire near aid centre, Gaza authorities say," with the piece later acknowledging that this is a Hamas-run organization. Another piece notes how "UN calls for investigation into killings near Gaza aid distribution site." The BBC also has these posts and plenty more about Gaza up on their X feeds, though some may be met with Community Notes in the coming days. A headline mentioning the Red Cross claimed that "Red Cross says at least 21 killed and dozens shot in Gaza aid incident." Still others highlighted how "Gaza aid trucks rushed by desperate and hungry crowds, WFP says" and "How controversial US-Israeli backed Gaza aid plan turned to chaos."

As we've covered in the past, the BBC also had some rather sanitized coverage of dead Hamas terrorist leaders, and has also put out problematic coverage about those taken hostage by Hamas. Late last month, the BBC also had to issue a correction regarding claims from the UN on BBC radio that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die if they didn't receive aid within 48-hours.

The Washington Post was also another outlet to have repeated such libelous claims about the aid situation with a correction issued and a post put out explaining as much on Sunday afternoon. There's since been over 700 replies and plenty of quoted replies calling out the outlet, especially in light of Sunday's terrorist attack.

Correction: We’ve deleted the post below because it and early versions of the article didn’t meet Post fairness standards.

The background: Early versions of the article on Sunday stated that Israeli troops had killed more than 30 people near a U.S. aid site in Gaza, with the… pic.twitter.com/KseRXgJn6A
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 3, 2025

Damage done https://t.co/mD4YnG6VfR pic.twitter.com/FMBEwa1J0g
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 3, 2025

Notice the Washington Post always makes errors in one direction: in Hamas's favor.

Far-left media outlets are more concerned with attacking Israel than reporting the facts. https://t.co/juONkGVS3M
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 3, 2025

There's still more outlets worth calling out, however. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee issued a statement on Monday calling on outlets, specifically The New York Times, CNN, and the Associated Press.

"Without verification of any source other than Hamas and its collaborators, the New York Times, CNN, and Associated Press reported that a number of people seeking to receive humanitarian food boxes from the Gaza Humanitarian Fund were shot or killed by the Israeli Defense Forces. These reports were FALSE. Drone video and first-hand accounts clearly showed that there were no injuries, no fatalities, no shooting, no chaos. It is Hamas that continues to terrorize and intimidate those who seek food aid," part of Huckabee's statement read, emphasizing how false such reports are. "The only source for these misleading, exaggerated, and utterly fabricated stories came from Hamas sources, which are designed to fan the flames of antisemitic hate that is arguably contributing to violence against Jews in the United States. Media sources who willingly parrot these libelous allegations should recant their fake news stories, apologize, and pledge to practice actual reporting of fact instead of engaging in dangerous propaganda that assists the terror group Hamas as they continue to hold innocent hostages for over 600 days after butchering over 1,200 people on October 7th."