A vigil was held outside the BBC in MediaCityUK following the documentary released about children’s lives in Gaza, which has now been pulled.
The BBC has said it removed Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone from iPlayer while it conducted “further due diligence” after discovering its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
The BBC said it had not been informed of the family connection in advance by the film’s production company.
The programme had initially remained available to stream, but was removed from iPlayer on Friday morning, with the BBC saying it would investigate the matter.
The vigil was hosted outside of the Quay House building today (February 27) and was used to raise awareness to the ongoing matters while also focusing their attention to the documentary.
Many people were stood outside the BBC building at MediaCityUK, wearing the colour yellow – as a symbol of solidarity with Israeli hostages and their families, and a call for their safe return.
Following the vigil, Raphi Bloom from the North West Friends of Israel said: “Today we wanted to come here today and hold it outside of the BBC building to raise awareness over the scandal around the documentary they made around Gaza, and that they used the son of a Hamas leader to narrate the film.
“We wanted to come here first and foremost to raise awareness of the hostages, so people walking by can see that they are still being held and that they should be released, and that everyone whether alive or dead should be returned to their families.”
And this was further emphasised by Owen Power, a Jewish, disabled, and queer local equality campaigner who added: “We are here today to draw attention to the awful plight of the hostages, which has affected our community greatly.
“It appears that the rest of the world is discreetly looking the other way, and in this case the world is ignoring this terrible issue – and if you think about it a lot of the hostages are babies, children and elderly people.
“We are just looking for people to speak out, all we are asking for is acknowledgment.
“My issue, and I love the BBC for the shows, the drama’s, and the news reporting, except the reporting in Israel. So we are out here wanting to draw attention to this.”
Since the controversy of the documentary, the BBC have since taken it down whilst they conduct “further due diligence with the production company” and have since released a statement.
A BBC spokesperson 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.”
They continued: “We apologise for the omission of that detail from the original film. The new text 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.”
And the statement updated on February 21, 2025, as the BBC continued: “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone features important stories we think should be told – those of the experiences of children in Gaza.
“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.”
However, the removal of the documentary has also seen the BBC criticised by over 700 media figures including Gary Lineker, Anita Rani, Riz Ahmed and Miriam Margolyes – with more information about the documentary being pulled be found here.
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