The BBC’s London headquarters have been doused in red paint, in apparent protest at the broadcaster’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.   October 2023

London, September 8 (RHC)-- The BBC is reportedly blocking the launch of a major national appeal to raise funds for humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella organization of 15 leading UK aid charities, is set to launch an appeal with the main national broadcasters to raise funds for humanitarian assistance for the people of Gaza.

Major British channels have agreed to broadcast DEC’s appeal, but a spokesperson for the BBC said> “We are keeping the possibility of a pan-broadcaster appeal under review.”

According to sources at the DEC, the BBC and other aid agencies, the British public service broadcaster is “blocking” the appeal because the corporation fears a backlash from supporters of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

The BBC, the sources said, has said the appeal did not meet all the established criteria for a national appeal.  In the meantime, a spokesperson for the DEC said the organization and its "stakeholders are deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza."

The DEC, which was set up in 1963, uses a “rapid response network” of “key media and corporate partners who help us launch our emergency appeals at very short notice, getting the message out and making it easy for the UK public to donate quickly and seamlessly.”

The aid organization’s role, he said, “is to launch a national appeal with our broadcast partners at a time that will raise the most money and deliver swift effective aid to as many people as possible.”  “We are ready to act when the moment is right.”

Israel's bloodiest-ever campaign which has so far claimed the lives of nearly 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza entered its 12th month on Saturday.

In the United Kingdom, hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in weekly protests against Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023, calling for an immediate halt to its hostilities.