- The broadcaster said it shared blame for the “unacceptable” shortcomings with the production company.
- “BBC News takes full responsibility for them and the impact they have had on the corporation's reputation. We apologise.”
LONDON: The BBC apologised on Thursday for “serious shortcomings” in the making of a documentary about the Gaza Strip after it emerged that the narrator was the son of a former Hamas deputy agriculture minister.
The BBC removed the documentary Gaza: How to Survive in a Warzone from its platform following a backlash and immediately launched an investigation into “errors” it called “significant and damaging”.
A BBC press release on Thursday said the review had found “serious flaws in the production of the programme,” which was produced by British company Hoyo Films.
The broadcaster said it shared blame for the “unacceptable” shortcomings with the production company.
“BBC News takes full responsibility for these events and the impact they have had on the corporation's reputation. We apologise,” it added.
BBC finds 'serious flaws' in Gaza documentary and says there are 'no plans' to broadcast it again in its current form https://t.co/NesoOZSpcZ
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) February 27, 2025
During the filming of the documentary, the independent production company was asked “several times” in writing about the narrator's possible ties to Hamas.
“After the broadcast, they admitted that they knew that the boy's father was deputy minister of agriculture in the Hamas government; they also admitted that they never told the BBC about this fact,” the press release said.
“It was the BBC's mistake not to disclose this fact and not to air the documentary.”
The production company also said it paid the boy's mother a “limited amount of money” for the voice-over.
The BBC is seeking further evidence that Hamas did not receive any money, either directly or indirectly.
Earlier on Thursday, UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told parliament she had demanded “tough” assurances that Hamas would not receive any money for the documentary, after the opposition Conservative Party raised the urgent issue and called for a public inquiry.
“Earlier this week I also held discussions with the BBC's Director General at my request to get urgent answers about the reviews and due diligence that should be carried out,” she added.
The revelations sparked a furious backlash, leading to protests outside the BBC's London headquarters.
A spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said: “The BBC's bias and lack of accountability have led to its further decline as it becomes a mouthpiece for terrorists and their supporters.”
The Telegraph also reported on Tuesday that Arabic words for Jews or Jews were replaced with “Israel” or “Israeli forces” or removed from the documentary.
The broadcaster is currently working to determine whether any disciplinary action is warranted “in relation to the shortcomings in the production of this programme.”
“This will include issues around language use, translation and continuity, which have also been raised within the BBC,” the statement said.
The decision to pull the documentary from broadcast also drew criticism, with more than 500 television and film workers, including former England footballer Gary Lineker, sending an open letter calling the move “politically motivated censorship”.
“This film is a landmark piece of journalism, offering a rare perspective on the lived experiences of Palestinian children living in unimaginable circumstances, amplifying voices that are too often silenced,” the letter said.
The documentary was originally shown on February 17.
