BBC faces criticism after claims of Hamas link to Gaza film

The BBC faces claims that it failed to disclose that a teenager who appeared as the main narrator in a film on the impact of Israel’s war in Gaza is the son of a senior Hamas minister.

The corporation is also  accused of turning a blind-eye to the hardline anti-Israel positions of those who made the documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, aired on BBC2 on Monday night.

The one-hour long film, also heavily promoted on the BBC’s I-Player, featured a detailed account of life in the war-torn region, told by the now 14 year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri.

In an email exchange via the BBC, Abdullah had said he wanted to be part of the programme “to explain the suffering that people here in Gaza witness with the language that the world understands, English” – and so that viewers learn about the situation on the ground without being “blurred by misinformation”.

But an investigation into the background of the film alleges that Abdullah is actually the son of Dr. Ayman Al-Yazouri, a senior official in the Hamas government, and with family links to one of its founding members.

Currently the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, the doctor has held other posts in education and planning.

The investigation, by the pro-Israel researcher David Collier, suggests Al-Yazouri actually hails from the same family as Hamas founder Ibrahim al-Yazouri.

Asked to comment on the claims, the BBC did not dispute Collier’s allegations, but said: “The film told the children’s own stories, showing viewers their direct experiences of living through a war, and the children’s parents did not have any editorial input.”

Ibrahim Al-Yazouri, who was imprisoned in Egypt and Israel, and who died of Covid in 2021,  Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and others founded Hamas in December 1987.

Previous social media posts show that how Dr. Ayman has repeatedly praised terrorist acts by the group including the murder of four Israelis in June 2023.

In the heavily publicised BBC programme, his teenage son was filmed heading back to his pre-war home in the north of the shattered territory. The boy offered commentary in perfect English throughout the hour long programme

An email exchange via the BBC, Abdullah had said he wanted to be part of the programme “to explain the suffering that people here in Gaza witness with the language that the world understands, English” – and so that viewers learn about the situation on the ground without being “blurred by misinformation”.

The documentary also followed the powerful stories of three other teenagers in what the BBC said was a “vivid and unflinching view of life in a warzone”.

One boy Zakaria Sarsak tells how he has witnessed shocking scenes, including a boy in front of him burn to death in a fire. “I must have seen at least 5,000 bodies. I saw them with my own eyes,” he told the cameraman.

This harrowing account had previously been detailed by ABC News in America and by the Reuters news agency in April 2024.

Ahead of this week’s airing, the BBC added: “Israel does not allow foreign journalists to report independently in Gaza. To make this film, two producers based in London remotely directed two cameramen on the ground in Gaza over nine months, gaining access to key locations out of reach to foreign press.”

But in his investigation Collier said: “The child of Hamas royalty was given an hour on a BBC channel to walk around looking for sympathy and demonising Israel.

“They followed this family for months. There is no way on earth they did not know who this family was. How can the BBC possibly justify trusting anything else in the entire documentary?”

It is also claimed that the same teenage boy appeared in a Channel 4 News broadcast last November under the name of Abdullah Abu Shamalah – with a father named Khalil Abushammala. Abushammala is director of the NGO Al Dameer, which  has faced claims of links to the PFLP terror organisation.

The investigation questioned the credibility of the documentary producers.

Co-director/ producer Yousef D. Hammash has a history of making pro-Palestinian documentaries, but his social media feed includes a post questioning former UK PM Rishi Sunak’s recent tribute to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Meanwhile a cameraman working on the programme Amjad Al Fayoumi posted a salute to the October 7 Hamas attacks and shared “resistance” videos full of terrorists, rockets and Israeli funerals.

In a article published on the BBC’s website documentary co-director Jamie Roberts wrote of their finished programme: “It’s a film that my colleague Yousef Hammash and I co-directed from London, because international journalists have not been allowed by Israel to enter the Gaza Strip and report independently since the start of the war 16 months ago.

“To gather the footage and the interviews, we employed two cameramen who live in Gaza – Amjad Al Fayoumi and Ibrahim Abu Ishaiba – communicating with them regularly using messaging apps, internet calls and mobile phone networks.

“Yousef and I wanted to make this documentary to show what everyday life is like for Gazan people trying to survive the horrors of this conflict as it unfolded. We finished filming a few weeks ago, on the day the current ceasefire started.”

A BBC Spokesperson said: “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, a documentary showing the conflict through the eyes of three children in Gaza, was produced in line with BBC editorial guidelines and the BBC had full editorial control.

“The film told the children’s own stories, showing viewers their direct experiences of living through a war, and the children’s parents did not have any editorial input. As the BBC has previously explained, the film was edited and directed from London, as independent international journalists are not allowed into Gaza.

“The film gives audiences a rare glimpse of Gaza during the war, as well as an insight into the children’s lives, it hears the voices of other Gazan civilians, several of whom voice anti-Hamas sentiments.”