Donald Trump’s press secretary was confident she had the BBC bang to rights.

Responding to a question about the shooting of civilians at the new US-backed aid distribution centres in southern Gaza, Karoline Leavitt accused the BBC of misreporting the story .

Her evidence was a list of different headlines for the same story, which she then read out.

“Israeli tank kills 26.” “Israeli tank kills 21.” “Israeli gunfire kills 31.”

In case there was any doubt about her opinion of Britain’s national broadcaster, Ms Leavitt presaged her remarks with: “Unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas as total truth .”

Behind closed doors in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, fists will have punched the air.

Israel’s reputation managers have had a battering in the past few day

See Full Page