The BBC board will decide the fate of a controversial Gaza documentary today.

The film, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone was removed from BBC iPlayer after it was discovered that its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.

The BBC said it would carry out “further due diligence” and make a decision after a meeting today (Thursday, February 27, 2025).

More than 500 media figures, under the banner Artists for Palestine, have written to the BBC, criticising the “racist” and “dehumanising” decision to remove the documentary.

They have also posted this on X:

Today, the BBC Board meets to decide the fate of the important documentary film, “Gaza: How To Survive a War Zone” which has been taken off-air under unfair political pressure.

Please share this post to make sure the BBC Board can hear us when we say: #StopCensoringPalestine pic.twitter.com/bbPU1Cm16X

— Artists for Palestine UK (@Art4PalestineUK) February 27, 2025

An open letter signed by Gary Lineker, Anita Rani, Riz Ahmed and Miriam Margolyes, among many others, calls on the BBC to “reject attempts to have the documentary permanently removed or subjected to undue disavowals”.

It reads: “Beneath this political football are children who are in the most dire circumstances of their young lives. This is what must remain at the heart of this discussion.

“As programme-makers, we are extremely alarmed by the intervention of partisan political actors on this issue, and what this means for the future of broadcasting in this country.”

other signatories include directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, actors Khalid Abdalla and Ruth Negga, musician Nitin Sawhney and Sara Agha, who presented the BBC documentary series The Holy Land And Us: Our Untold Stories.