Ofcom shares 'ongoing concern' over BBC's controversial Gaza show and warns it may intervene in investigation
3 March 2025, 20:06 | Updated: 3 March 2025, 21:01
Ofcom has said they will let the BBC conduct its own investigation into its Gaza documentary, but 'reserve the right to use our powers to step in if necessary'.
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Ofcom has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the BBC's documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone in an open letter to the broadcaster.
The BBC said that while the documentary featured “important stories we think should be told, those of the experiences of children in Gaza” there had been “continuing questions raised about the programme”.
It emerged last week that the teenage narrator of Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone is the son of a Hamas official - a deputy agriculture minister in Gaza, who has a PhD from the University of Huddersfield.
The documentary has been pulled, and will not be broadcast again in its current form or return to iPlayer, after the BBC acknowledged there were 'serious failings' in the production.
Ofcom has now written a letter to the BBC, claiming it has "ongoing concerns about the nature and gravity of these failings and the negative impact they have on the trust audiences place in the BBC’s journalism."
"It is crucial that the causes of those errors are investigated, and that systems are put in place to ensure they cannot recur."
The regulator normally allows the BBC to investigate its own complaints, before intervening if they find it necessary.
In the letter, they say they will follow the same procedure and "give the BBC the opportunity to conduct its own investigations into this programme, as the BBC Board has decided."
Ofcom added that they will 'keep the situation under close review', expecting regular updates from the BBC about the timeframe of the investigation and progress they make.
"[We] reserve the right to use our powers to step in should we feel it necessary to do so, given that the BBC Board has decided these to be internal investigations," they said.
Earlier, Wes Streeting told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that the government "expects to see action and improvement and accountability" from the broadcaster, which is primarily funded from the pockets of UK households.
The BBC itself said that some mistakes were made by the production company who made the film and others were made by the corporation's own staff - but all were "unacceptable".
'BBC is in a mess' over Gaza documentary, Streeting says
Mr Streeting, the health minister, told Nick: "The BBC has got itself into a terrible, terrible mess here and they need to look at their editorial standards and how they are upheld.
"Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has made it very clear she expects to see action and improvement and accountability here.
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"So the BBC is now undertaking that work and we look forward to hearing the results."
The BBC has said that the production company knew the boy’s father was a member of the Hamas government but did not tell them.
The company also paid the boy's mother via his sister's bank account.
David Collier, an investigative journalist with a focus on Israel and anti-Semitism who first raised concerns, asked why the BBC had not been unable to uncover these problems when it had taken him just hours to find them.
He told Nick that his long-held scepticism of the BBC's Israel coverage prompted him to investigate the Gaza film.
"When I saw the documentary was coming out I said… 'I need to have a look at what they’ve done here,'" Mr Collier said.
"It took me about three hours to realise there was something seriously wrong, and about five to uncover the Hamas links."
He said that "obviously creates the question - if I can do it from my home in north London with just Facebook, where were the BBC?"
Keir Starmer also said the documentary was "concerning" on Thursday. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she had discussed the documentary with BBC director-general Tim Davie, and had expressed her "deep concern".
Meanwhile the Campaign against Anti-Semitism held a protest outside BBC headquarters on Tuesday.
The BBC said it took "full responsibility" for the failures, as it apologised for the film.
"Nothing is more important than the trust that our audiences have in our journalism," they added.
"This incident has damaged that trust. While the intent of the documentary was aligned with our purpose - to tell the story of what is happening around the world, even in the most difficult and dangerous places - the processes and execution of this programme fell short of our expectations.
"Although the programme was made by an independent production company, who were commissioned to deliver a fully compliant documentary, the BBC has ultimate editorial responsibility for this programme as broadcast."
The BBC director-general has asked for an independent review into the making of the documentary to be expedited.
"Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, is independent of BBC News and reports directly to the director-general," the spokesperson said.
"He will consider all of the complaints and issues that have been raised.
"He will determine whether any editorial guidelines have been broken; rapidly address the complaints that have been made; and enable the BBC to determine whether any disciplinary action is warranted in relation to shortcomings in the making of this programme.
"This will include issues around the use of language, translation and continuity that have also been raised with the BBC.
"We have no plans to broadcast the programme again in its current form or return it to iPlayer, and will make a further assessment once the work of Peter Johnston is complete."
In a separate statement, the BBC's board said mistakes made in producing the documentary were "significant and damaging to the BBC".
Demonstrators protested the programme outside the BBC offices on Tuesday night, saying it was "a betrayal of licence fee payers”.
The BBC initially kept the documentary online with an added disclaimer before removing it from iPlayer while conducting further ‘due diligence’.
It is co-directed by Jamie Roberts, an Emmy-award-winning filmmaker, and Yousef Hammash, a Bafta-award-winning Palestinian journalist.
It was filmed by two cameramen which Mr Rawagh hired as an “additional camera.”
Mr Rawagh’s tweets were uncovered by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera).
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, told LBC News earlier: “There are children in Gaza who've appeared on a film.
"One of them is the son of a high ranking Hamas official. And how on earth can the BBC possibly already be sure that no money has gone over there?
"It just doesn't make sense, you know, why on earth would somebody pay £400,000 for this thing?
"And what are we supposed to believe, that none of the people who appeared in the film are actually being paid for it? It just, it just sort of beggars belief.”
