Ofcom sanctions the BBC over Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone documentary amid row over young narrator's links to Hamas

Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, which was made for the BBC by independent studio Hoyo Films, was released in February and removed from the BBC iPlayer shortly after it emerged that the documentary’s child narrator, Abdullah, was the son of Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture Ayman Alyazouri.

In its ruling, Ofcom said that he failure to disclose this information was “materially misleading” because “it had the potential to erode the very high levels of trust audiences would have expected in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war”. As part of the sanction, the BBC will be forced to broadcast the findings of the watchdog.

The BBC previously released findings of an internal report into the matter in july. The report, led by Director of Editorial Complaints & Reviews Peter Johnston found that the corporation had breach one of its editorial guidelines by failing to disclose information about the narrator’s father.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston’s review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC’s editorial guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code.

“We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom’s decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised.”