The BBC is under fire for claiming that a Gazan woman died of malnutrition when she allegedly had cancer.

The broadcaster reported over the weekend that the 20-year-old, identified as Marah Abu Zuhri, died after she was evacuated to Italy for treatment while “severely emaciated”.

However, the Israeli military unit in charge of aid, known as the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat), claimed shortly afterwards that she had actually suffered from leukaemia.

The US-led criticism with Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, urging the BBC to apologise.

He wrote on X: “Will the BBC retract the story and apologise? Of course. The same day a Baskin Robbins opens a franchise in hell.”

Sir Michael Ellis, the former attorney-general, accused the BBC of fuelling rising cases of anti-Semitism by spreading such “shocking misinformation”.

He told The Telegraph: “The BBC’s anti-Israel reporting is an international embarrassment.

“Their persistent bias against Israel is dangerous, both to the cause of peace in the Middle East and more immediately to the Jewish community in the UK, which has seen unprecedented spikes in anti-Semitism thanks in part to shocking misinformation like this.”

The BBC deleted a social media post claiming Ms Zuhri died “of malnutrition” after being approached by The Telegraph.

Sharing the report again with a new caption, it said: “This post replaces an earlier version, following an update to the story.”