Revealed: How much Hamas official's family was paid for BBC Gaza documentary

Telegraph

05-03-2025

The family of a Hamas minister was paid £790 for his teenage son's role in the BBC's Gaza documentary.
The money was paid into a bank account belonging to the sister of Abdullah al-Yazouri, a 13-year-old boy who narrated Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. Their father, Ayman al-Yazouri, is the deputy agriculture minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government.
The documentary has been pulled from iPlayer after the BBC acknowledged 'serious flaws' in its production, including its failure to disclose Abdullah's links to Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK.
The money was paid by an independent production company Hoyo Films, which made the documentary under contract for the BBC. No payment went from the BBC directly to Abdullah's family.
The existence of the payment was disclosed in a statement made by the BBC last week, in which the corporation admitted its 'own failing' in not uncovering the boy's family connection to Hamas prior to transmission.
The BBC said: 'Hoyo Films have told us that they paid the boy's mother, via his sister's bank account, a limited sum of money for the narration.'
The amount has never been disclosed until now. The Telegraph has learnt that the sum was in the region of £790 – equivalent to about a month's salary in Gaza.
The BBC has demanded a 'full audit of expenditure' in the making of the programme by Hoyo. The company has told the BBC that 'no payments were made to members of Hamas or its affiliates, either directly, in kind, or as a gift'.
The size of the payment to Abdullah's family has reassured senior executives inside the BBC that the money represents an insubstantial sum, in the face of demands by campaigners for counter-terrorism police to open an investigation.
The Telegraph disclosed earlier this week that Scotland Yard had been asked to begin an inquiry.
The BBC has admitted that it wrote a 'number of times' to Hoyo asking if Abdullah was connected to Hamas.
In an official complaint to the police, UK Lawyers for Israel cited this as possible evidence that the BBC had enough concerns to have warranted contacting the police. Under terrorism legislation, an organisation has a duty to report to police any concerns that a terrorist offence is being committed.
The BBC has insisted that it is aware of 'our legal obligations' and complies with them.
'Number of reports'
The Metropolitan Police said it had received 'a number of reports raising concerns' about the Gaza documentary. It said it was 'currently assessing whether any police action is required'.
Police have stressed that no investigation has yet been launched and the scale of the payment to Abdullah's family, at under £800, makes that highly unlikely, unless the BBC audit finds other payments of concern.
It has been reported that the BBC paid Hoyo £400,000 out of licence payers' funds to make the documentary, which took nine months to complete.
Hoyo has said it is 'co-operating fully' with the BBC's internal investigation to 'understand where mistakes have been made'.
The film-makers added: 'We feel this remains an important story to tell, and that our contributors – who have no say in the war – should have their voices heard.'
Sources inside the BBC have pointed out that Israel's refusal to allow Western journalists to report on the ground from inside Gaza had contributed to the confusion and difficulties that have arisen from the Gaza documentary.
The connection between Abdullah and his father's role within the Hamas government was uncovered by David Collier, an investigative journalist, within hours of the programme being broadcast. It raises serious questions over the failure of the BBC's own due diligence.