Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone (2025)
Courage in the Face of War, Cowardice in the Face of Criticism
The BBC documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone is an unflinching and deeply personal account of life in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas conflict. Co-directed by Jamie Roberts and Palestinian filmmaker Yousef Hammash, it tells the story of four young people whose lives have been shaped by war, displacement, and survival. Through their eyes, the documentary captures the raw reality of a besieged population—people often reduced to statistics in news reports but here given a voice, a face, and a heartbreaking humanity.
What makes Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone particularly powerful is its child’s-eye view of the conflict. Thirteen-year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri serves as the film’s narrator, guiding the audience through the devastation and resilience of his homeland. “Have you ever wondered what you’d do if your world was destroyed? Would you help people?”, he asks at the start of a movie.
Ten-year-old Renad finds solace in creating TikTok cooking videos, a small but powerful act of defiance in a world where normal childhood has been stolen, she dreams of opening a restaurant, having over a million followers already. Eleven-year-old Zakaria volunteers at Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital, assisting medical staff with a maturity no child should be forced to develop. And 24-year-old Rana gives birth in the middle of the war, facing the extraordinary challenge of motherhood amid chaos.
Filmed over nine months by local Gazan cameramen Amjad Al Fayoumi and Ibrahim Abu Ishaiba, the documentary immerses viewers in Gaza’s suffocating reality, where every day is a battle for survival. Unlike reports shaped by external correspondents, this film offers a rare and invaluable perspective—one told by those living through the nightmare, not just observing it from afar. It is this approach that makes it so deeply personal—and precisely why those who wish to hide the truth despise it.
Critical Acclaim—and BBC's Cowardice
Upon release, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone received high praise. The Guardian’s Jack Seale awarded it 5 out of 5 stars, calling it honest and deeply affecting. The Daily Telegraph’s Anita Singh gave it 4 out of 5 stars, acknowledging its emotional weight while debating the balance between children's and adults' narratives.
Yet despite—or perhaps because of—its powerful storytelling, the film quickly became the centre of controversy. The BBC removed it from its iPlayer platform after it was revealed that Abdullah’s father, Ayman al-Yazouri, serves as the deputy agriculture minister in the Hamas administration. This undisclosed connection led to accusations of bias, with critics using it as a pretext to discredit the documentary as a whole.
What is telling, however, is that not a single detractor has pointed out factual inaccuracies in the film. Instead, their focus has been on guilt by association—discrediting a child’s testimony because of his father’s position. This is a blatant attempt to shift the conversation away from the undeniable suffering portrayed in the documentary.
The BBC’s decision to pull the film is an act of cowardice, bowing to pressure rather than standing by its own journalism. Instead of defending a documentary that provides a rare and crucial insight into one of the world’s most devastating conflicts, the BBC has chosen to silence it. This move does not just suppress Palestinian voices—it sets a dangerous precedent, where telling the truth becomes controversial if it offends the wrong people.
Why This Film Must Be Seen
Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone is not just a documentary—it is a historical record. It captures the human cost of war in a way few films have done before, allowing audiences to see Gaza beyond headlines and political debates. It is about war, occupation, and, increasingly, genocide. But it is also about the search for normality amid chaos. In short, it humanises Palestinians in a way we rarely see. That is why its removal is so concerning.
Beyond the children’s perspectives, the film also highlights the heroes of Gaza—the paramedics who continue their work despite being targeted by Israeli forces. Targeting of paramedics itself is a war crime. And these brave medics risk their lives daily because they are all the people of Gaza have.
The attempt to suppress this film only reinforces its importance. It must be seen, discussed, and shared as widely as possible. The voices of those in Gaza must not be silenced simply because their suffering is inconvenient for the oppressor.
I will examine the controversy surrounding the documentary and the problems with its removal separately, but one thing is clear—Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone is one of the most important and powerful films of our time. It provides a rare and honest look at life in Gaza through the eyes of children and ordinary people, showing the true cost of the ongoing conflict.
Watch it. And after seeing the reality of what people in Gaza endure, take a moment to write to the BBC and remind them that their cowardly decision to pull the film under pressure will not be forgotten. The bravery of those who shared their stories deserves to be recognised, not silenced.
