The BBC has been accused by its journalists of being too lenient on Israel and “dehumanising” Palestinian civilians, allegedly leaving staff crying in lavatories and taking time off work.
Concerns were raised with senior editorial figures in a meeting this week.
An email setting out fears that the BBC was “treating Israeli lives as more worthy than Palestinian lives” was sent to Tim Davie, the director-general.
The disquiet comes after upset among Jewish staff caused by the decision not to describe Hamas as terrorists, compounded by a reference to the Nazis in a blog by the veteran broadcaster John Simpson.
The BBC has held meetings with staff from Jewish, and Palestinian and Arab communities to hear their concerns. One insider says it risked “tying itself in knots”.
The source says “What Hamas did was atrocious and nobody is excusing its actions but the mood from a lot of people in the building is that we aren’t getting the coverage right.”
They add that the BBC staff “have been crying in the toilets and freelancers have been sacrificing earnings by not showing up to work because of the distress caused. Many people are feeling deeply disturbed.”
Rami Ruhayem, a BBC correspondent based in Beirut, said that he had “the gravest possible concerns” about the output as he accused his employer of valuing Israeli lives more highly than Palestinians.
In the email to Davie, which was widely shared with BBC News international staff, he said: “Words like ‘massacre’, ‘slaughter’ and ‘atrocities’ are being used prominently in reference to actions by Hamas, but hardly, if at all, in reference to actions by Israel. Does this not raise the question of the possible complicity of the BBC in incitement, dehumanisation and war propaganda?”
