A BBC documentary focusing on Gaza has been removed from the BBC iPlayer streaming service while the broadcaster carries out “further due diligence”.
The documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, aired on BBC Two on Monday. It is narrated by 13-year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri, who describes life in Gaza during the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
It later emerged that Abdullah is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has served as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
“Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone features important stories we think should be told, those of the experiences of children in Gaza,” a statement from the BBC said.
“There have been continuing questions raised about the programme and in the light of these, we are conducting further due diligence with the production company.
“The programme will not be available on iPlayer while this is taking place.”
Further accusations have been made about Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, such as claims that other children were pictured with Hamas.
After the documentary aired, a group including the actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, producer Neil Blair, former BBC One controller Danny Cohen, and producer Leo Pearlman wrote to the BBC calling for the film to be pulled from iPlayer.
They also asked for information about due diligence and duty of care to be provided.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the BBC apologised for omitting the “family connections” of the film’s narrator.
“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 broadcaster said it had since added new text to the film, disclosing the boy’s family link to Hamas.
Also on Thursday, the culture secretary Lisa Nandy said she would be “discussing” the documentary with the BBC.
“I watched it last night. It’s something that I will be discussing with them, particularly around the way in which they sourced the people who were featured in the programme,” she told LBC.
“These things are difficult and I do want to acknowledge that for the BBC, they take more care than most broadcasters in terms of the way that they try to portray these things.”
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has criticised concerns raised about the Hoyo Films documentary, and urged the BBC to “stand firm against these attempts to prevent first-hand accounts of life in Gaza from reaching audiences”.
A statement from the Harrow-based organisation also said: “For some, almost any Palestinian perspective appears to be deemed unacceptable.
“In this case, objections have been raised because Abdullah’s father holds a government role in Gaza’s Hamas-run administration. However, this does not negate the child’s lived experience or invalidate his testimony.”
Mr Cohen said on Friday that the situation is “a shocking failure by the BBC and a major crisis for its reputation”. He also said: “The BBC’s senior leadership needs to wake up now and admit the corporation has a serious problem.”
