Respond Crisis Translation claimed on Twitter/X that the BBC had made a “dangerous” error in the translation of an interview posted on the broadcaster’s website on Saturday afternoon by suggesting the woman being interviewed had said “only Hamas cared” when she did not appear to mention the organisation at all.
The BBC Arabic translation initially gave her words as: “The Israelis came to us at 10 in the morning and told us there was a deal.
“We were suffering from difficult circumstances and tear gas was fired at us. We were wearing head covers all the time. The situation was humiliating and included psychological torture, in addition to cutting off the electricity for the prisoners.
“We were suffering from the cold without the electricity and no one helped us. Only Hamas cared. Those who felt our suffering, I thank them very much and we love them very much.”
Respond Crisis Translation insisted the woman never mentioned Hamas and accused the BBC of not only an "egregious mistranslation" but a “racist fabrication that fans the flames of war”.
The organisation called on the BBC to immediately correct the mistake which it said exacerbated “the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza”.
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Respond Crisis Translation said: “Mistranslations such as these – intentional or not – are exacerbating the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”
On Monday morning, the BBC admitted the clip carried inaccurate subtitles due to an error in the editing process and has now posted a longer clip where bosses say the woman does mention Hamas.
The BBC News Press Team account said: “The video posted on Saturday at 14:48 GMT originally carried inaccurate subtitles due to an error in the editing process.
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“The page has now been updated to a longer version posted here [link shared] which does include reference to Hamas.”
The new clip is translated as: “The Israelis came to us at 10 o’clock and informed us there was a deal for exchange. We were isolated for a month.
“They fired tear gas at us. We felt we were humiliated. We had to keep head scarves on all day long. None of us could recognise the other.
“Some [of] us were tortured and weren’t dealt with as POWs and nobody could help anyone else.
“They locked us in and in dark rooms. We suffered from cold in winter.
“They sprayed pepper at us and left us suffering in the wards.
“Nobody felt our sufferings. Only Hamas felt our sufferings. We thank them a lot and love each other a lot.”
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