A widely reported claim that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die within 48 hours has been corrected by the UN, which says the figure refers to potential deaths over the next year.
The statement, aired on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and repeated across national media and in Parliament, was later clarified by the BBC as a misrepresentation of a humanitarian report projecting malnutrition cases in children aged six month to five years over a 12-month period.
The UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher claimed on Monday morning that thousands of babies could die in Gaza in the subsequent two days if Israel did not immediately let aid in, apparently based on a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Partnership.
Speaking to Today, Fletcher said: "There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them."
He said there were "strong teams on the ground" operating in medical centres and schools - but did not provide further details.
Five trucks entered the strip on Monday, which Fletcher described as "a drop in the ocean." He said the aid had yet to reach civilians.
However, a look at the IPC report reveals that the figure refers to the number of children at risk of “severe malnutrition” by March next year, rather than by the end of the week. The number is a projection and would not take into account any increase in the supply of aid between now and then.
Later the same day, buried in a story about how aid in Gaza has yet to reach the population, BBC News issued a correction to Fletcher’s claim. A separate UN official also declined to repeat the claim and made the correction in a press briefing.
The BBC said it asked for clarification on the figure from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), headed by Fletcher, which said: "We are pointing to the imperative of getting supplies in to save an estimated 14,000 babies suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Gaza. We need to get the supplies in as soon as possible, ideally within the next 48 hours."
The IPC report makes a distinction between severe and acute malnutrition, with the former being the subject of the 14,000 figure.
However, by then, the claim had already been widely reported across the UK and global media and cited as true by nine Members of Parliament in the Commons during a debate yesterday.
The correction comes as international pressure mounts on Israel to increase the aid flow into Gaza as the Israel Defence Force escalates military action against Hamas amid widespread warnings about hunger in the strip.
On Monday it was announced that UK will suspend trade talks over what it describes as Israel's "morally unjustifiable" escalation in Gaza. Foreign Secretary David Lammy described Israel’s actions as “monstrous”.
Lammy said: “We have suspended negotiations with this Israeli government on a new free trade agreement.”
Adding that the UK is reviewing its co-operation with the Israeli administration, the foreign secretary said: “The Netanyahu government’s actions have made this necessary.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told Parliament the “horrific situation in Gaza” is “utterly intolerable,” and said, “We cannot allow the people of Gaza to starve.”
The Israeli Ambassador in London, Tzipi Hotovely, was also summoned to the Foreign Office.
Meanwhile, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said an EU trade agreement with Israel was being reviewed in light of its actions in Gaza. She told reporters, “The aid that Israel has allowed in is of course welcomed, but it’s a drop in the ocean. Aid must flow immediately without obstruction and at scale.”
On Tuesday, around 93 trucks carrying aid, including flour, baby food, medical equipment and pharmaceutical drugs, were allowed to enter the Strip.
The Netanyahu government had said its blockade was aimed at preventing Hamas terrorists from seizing and reselling aid. It has denied claims that there is a shortage of food in Gaza and insisted that instances of starvation are caused by Hamas withholding supplies from the civilian population.
