London UK - The BBC Wednesday defended its reporting on Israel's massacre of Palestinians near a US-backed aid center in Gaza, after the White House accused the network of taking "the word of Hamas."

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli gunfire killed at least 31 people on Sunday near an aid center run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Though the Israeli military and the organizations denied troops had fired on civilians in or around the center, witnesses, first responders, and doctors who treated victims say otherwise.

Responding to a question about the incident, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday the BBC had to "correct and take down" its story about the incident.

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"The administration is aware of those reports and we are currently looking into the veracity of them because, unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don't take the word of Hamas with total truth," she said.

"We like to look into it when they speak, unlike the BBC, who had multiple headlines," she said, citing stories that gave different death tolls.

"And then, oh, wait, they had to correct and take down their entire story, saying 'We reviewed the footage and couldn't find any evidence of anything."

But the BBC said the White House claims were false and that it had not removed its story.

"The claim the BBC took down a story after reviewing footage is completely wrong. We did not remove any story and we stand by our journalism," it said in a statement.

It said headlines giving varying death tolls were "totally normal" journalistic practice due to the story being "updated throughout the day with the latest fatality figures as they came in from various sources."

The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah received 179 people, including 21 pronounced dead on arrival.

Leavitt also criticized the Washington Post for its reporting of the incident.

The Post deleted one article over sourcing issues "because it and early versions of the article didn't meet Post fairness standards."

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"The article and headline were updated on Sunday evening making it clear that there was no consensus about who was responsible."

The correction came after influential billionaire Bill Ackman, a major supporter of Israel, called out fellow mogul and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on X, complaining about reporting on the victims.

Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on starving Palestinians being forced to travel miles to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's centers, killing scores and causing scenes of terror and chaos.

The GHF said it was temporarily shuttering operations Wednesday as Israel announced areas previously designated as aid collection hubs were now considered "combat zones."