A Gaza documentary axed by the BBC has been taken up by Channel 4, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.
Channel 4 announced on Saturday that it will be broadcasting Gaza: Doctors Under Attack on Wednesday, July 2, at 10 p.m. GMT.
Basement Films produced the documentary as a one-off exploration of claims that the IDF has repeatedly targeted hospitals and healthcare workers during the war.
“Gaza: Doctors Under Attack is a forensic investigation into Israeli military attacks on hospitals in Gaza,” said Channel 4. “Every one of Gaza’s 36 leading hospitals has now been attacked or destroyed by Israel, with people forced to evacuate and healthcare workers reportedly killed, imprisoned, and tortured.”
It said that the film was initially commissioned for the BBC but that it has been “fact-checked and compiled by Channel 4 to ensure it meets Channel 4 editorial standards and the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.”
Channel 4’s Specialist Factual and Sport Louisa Compton, who is also the head of its news and current affairs division, gave it the green light.
The BBC's initial commissioning of the film
“This is a meticulously reported and important film examining evidence that supports allegations of grave breaches of international law by Israeli forces that deserves to be widely seen... It exemplifies Channel 4’s commitment to brave and fearless journalism,” Compton said.
The BBC originally commissioned the film in 2024, under the title Gaza: Medics Under Fire. Set to air in February, it was put on hold in April pending an investigation into a separate documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, which was revealed to be narrated by the son of a Hamas government minister.
“With both films coming from independent production companies, and both about Gaza, it was right to wait for any relevant findings – and put them into action – before broadcasting the film,” the BBC said.
BBC says material risked 'creating perception of partiality'
However, on June 20, the BBC released a statement saying that despite its attempts to “find a way to air some of the material in [its] news programs in line with [its] impartiality standards before the review was published,” it came “to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC.”
“Impartiality is a core principle of BBC News,” it continued, adding that rights had been transferred to Basement Films.
The production company’s founder, Ben de Pear, a former editor at Channel 4 News, said earlier this week that the BBC had “utterly failed” and that journalists were “being stymied and silenced.”
Basement Films added, “This is the third film we have made about the assault on Gaza since October 7 at Basement Films, and whilst none of them have been easy, this became by far the most difficult.”
“Although the BBC are now taking their names off this film, it will remain theirs, and we hope it serves to open up the debate on how the nation’s broadcaster covers what is happening in Gaza, and that people feel free to speak up and speak out, rather than stay silent or leave, and at some point get the journalistic leadership they deserve,” Pear said.