The BBC's decision to remove the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone from its platforms and silence children's voices is profoundly disappointing and unethical.

The documentary is a harrowing account of life in Gaza as seen through the eyes of Palestinian children. 

It takes place over nine months of the conflict which has had a devastating impact on children. Over 14,500 Palestinian children have been reported killed and thousands more injured. Every day, approximately 10 children lost one or both of their legs, and now thousands of children, many of them babies, are coping with missing limbs. Nearly all children have been displaced from their homes and at least 17,000 are now unaccompanied or separated from their parents. 

Yet despite their enormous suffering, so little attention has been given to Palestinian children's individual stories. The overwhelming majority of these children have been reduced to numbers (or not even that, given that the headline figures above are likely gross underestimates). Since international journalists are banned from Gaza, there is scant media coverage of children who have lost everything and experienced unbearable suffering. Shocking footage shot from mobile phones and shared on social media provides a horrifying glimpse into their lives – but does not come close to the power and reach of a professionally produced documentary.

The main objection to the BBC documentary is that Abdullah, the 13-year-old narrator, is the son of the deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza’s Hamas-run government. Aside from the fact that his role is concerned with agriculture rather than politics, Abdullah and all the children featured are individuals in their own right whose lived experiences and testimonies are valid.

As the recent open letter from over 1,000 media representatives to the BBC states, "Children must not be held responsible for the actions of adults, and weaponising family associations to discredit a child’s testimony is both unethical and dangerous.”

Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, produced by award-winning film makers Hoyo Films, is outstanding. It received five stars in the Guardian and the Times, which described it as “exceptional”. The BBC should be proud of this important piece of journalism, and not bow to pressure to silence children’s voices. As a public service broadcaster, the BBC has a duty to represent all people – especially marginalised groups and children who have so few opportunities to speak their truth.

Please sign this petition if you agree that the BBC should reconsider its decision and reinstate this documentary immediately.