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A BBC documentary on life in Gaza has come under fire after it was revealed that a child featured in the film is the son of a Hamas leader.
The documentary, Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone, aired on BBC Two and is currently available on BBC iPlayer.
The controversy centres around Abdullah Al-Yazouri, a child narrator who provides insights into life in the war-torn territory.
A group including actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, producer Neil Blair, former BBC One controller Danny Cohen, and producer Leo Pearlman have written to BBC director-general Tim Davie outlining their concerns.
Their letter alleges that Abdullah is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
The group questions the BBC’s editorial standards and compliance with Ofcom’s broadcasting code, its own editorial guidelines, and English law.
The letter specifically requests that the BBC “immediately postpone any broadcast repeats of the programme, remove it from iPlayer and take down any social media clips of the programme until an independent investigation is carried out and its findings published with full transparency for licence-fee payers”.
The writers ask: “Can the BBC confirm it will take this action?”
They said: “Was it known to the BBC that the narrator and principal contributor of the documentary, Abdullah Al-Yazouri, is the son of a senior leader of the proscribed terrorist group, Hamas?
“If the BBC was aware that Abdullah Al-Yazouri was the son of a terrorist leader, why was this not disclosed to audiences during the programme?
“If the BBC was not aware that Abdullah Al-Yazouri is the son of a terrorist leader, what diligence checks were undertaken and why did they fail?”
They also raised concerns about due diligence, whether the child’s parents signed a release for him to appear, and asked if they were given permission by Hamas to make the documentary, which was produced by production company Hoyo Films.
The letter to the BBC was also addressed to the corporation’s chief content officer Charlotte Moore and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness.
In a statement on Thursday, the BBC said: “Since the transmission of our documentary on Gaza, the BBC has become aware of the family connections of the film’s narrator, a child called Abdullah.
“We’ve promised our audiences the highest standards of transparency, so it is only right that as a result of this new information, we add some more detail to the film before its retransmission. We apologise for the omission of that detail from the original film.”
The BBC said the new text attached to the film reads: “The narrator of this film is 13 year old Abdullah. His father has worked as a deputy agriculture minister for the Hamas-run government in Gaza. The production team had full editorial control of filming with Abdullah.
“We followed all of our usual compliance procedures in the making of this film, but we had not been informed of this information by the independent producers when we complied and then broadcast the finished film,” the statement added.
“The film remains a powerful child’s eye view of the devastating consequences of the war in Gaza which we believe is an invaluable testament to their experiences, and we must meet our commitment to transparency.”
London-based Hoyo Films has previously made BBC documentary Ukraine: Enemy In The Woods, which was filmed by Ukrainian soldiers amid the war with Russia.
Since October 2023, when Hamas attacked festivalgoers and Israeli settlers, more than 48,000 Palestinians have died, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The militant group is currently releasing hostages to Israel in a truce agreement with the Middle Eastern country.
Hoyo Films has been contacted for comment.
