The BBC was reported Friday to be leading a boycott of British broadcasters refusing to air a national humanitarian appeal for Gaza, leaving aid agencies with a potential shortfall of millions of pounds in donations

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella group for 13 British charities, launched an appeal on Thursday, saying the devastation in Gaza was "so huge British aid agencies were compelled to act".

But the BBC made a rare breach of an agreement dating to 1963, saying it would not give free airtime to the appeal.

Other broadcasters followed suit even though they had previously agreed on the video and script to be shown after primetime news bulletins.

Britain's state-funder broadcaster claimed it did not want to risk public confidence in its impartiality.

It has already been severely criticised over its alleged pro-Israeli bias in its coverage of Israel's massacre of more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza.

"The decision was made because of question marks about the delivery of aid in a volatile situation and also to avoid any risk of compromising public confidence in the BBC's impartiality," a spokesman was quoted saying.

But the DEC, which was set up in 1963 to coordinate aid agency's responses at the time of disasters, was perplexed at the BBC's refusal.

"We are totally apolitical," its chief executive, Brendan Gormley, said. "This appeal is a response to humanitarian principles. The BBC seems to be confusing impartiality with equal airtime," he said.

Britain's leading satellite broadcaster, Sky, suggested the rest of the media had no choice but to follow the BBC's boycott. "By convention, if all broadcasters do not carry the appeal, then none do. The decision was effectively made for us."