Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said she will be "discussing" a BBC documentary about Gaza with the broadcaster after it was revealed the film’s narrator was the son of a Hamas deputy minister.
The documentary, Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone, aired on BBC Two and 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 the boy is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
The BBC has since apologised “for the omission of that detail from the original film” and has edited the text attached to the programme.
A group including actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, producer Neil Blair, former BBC One controller Danny Cohen, and producer Leo Pearlman have written to the BBC calling for the documentary to be pulled and for information about due diligence and duty of care to be provided.
Ms Nandy, speaking to LBC, said: "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 added: "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.”
In their letter to the BBC, the group asked: “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?”
The group also asked if the BBC was given permission by Hamas to make the documentary, which was produced by production company Hoyo Films.
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.
