Forty two words of BBC News coverage for terror attack which injured four

On the evening of October 11th a terror attack took place near Kibbutz Gan Shmuel in northern Israel.

“Four Israelis were wounded Sunday evening in a knife attack on Route 65 at the entrance to the kibbutz of Gan Shmuel, near the northern city of Hadera. One of the four, a 19-year-old female soldier, is in serious condition. […]

The Shin Bet identified the suspect as Alaa Raed Ahmad Ziwad of Umm al-Fahm, originally from the village of Silat al-Harithiya [near Jenin], who received Israeli citizenship through his father’s family unification.

According to Army Radio, the attacker first ran over the 19-year-old woman, before getting out of the car and stabbing her and the three other victims. […]

“When we arrived at the scene we saw, in the trench beside the highway, an unconscious 19-year-old woman with multiple wounds. We gave her lifesaving first-aid treatment including CPR, bandages and fluids and rushed her to the hospital,” Magen David Adom paramedics Khaled Mura’i and Yehuda Haim said.”

The female soldier is still in critical condition.

“The female soldier, whose name has not been released for publication, was moved overnight to Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer near Tel Aviv, known for its neurological department and neurosurgery ward, after suffering stab wounds to the head and upper torso in the terror attack.”

There was no stand-alone reporting on that incident on the BBC News website. However, an amendment made to an existing article titled “Palestinians killed in Israel Gaza air strike” told readers:

“And later four Israelis were injured in the latest stabbing attack as tensions continued to escalate.”

Later on in the report, readers were provided with the following forty-two word description of the attack.

“Later in the day, an Israeli Arab drove his car at a group of people near the northern Israeli town of Hadera, then stabbed four of them, police said.

One, a 19-year-old female soldier, is said to be seriously injured.”Gan Shmuel attack

A caption to one of the photographs illustrating the article states:

“The latest stabbing attack against Israelis happened close to a kibbutz in northern Israel”

Apparently BBC editors believe that the phrase “drove his car at a group of people” is an accurate and adequate description of the terrorist’s attempt to kill a young woman by first deliberately running her over and then getting out of his car to further inflict multiple stab wounds.   

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