The BBC has been accused of focusing a documentary about ordinary Palestinians on the son of a Hamas government minister without disclosing the connection.

The documentary, Gaza: How To Survive a War Zone, was broadcast on Monday evening as an account of the conflict through the eyes of three children whose lives have been devastated by Israel’s military campaign against Hamas.

The hour-long film was narrated by a 14-year-old English -speaking boy named Abdullah, who is listed in the film’s credits under his full name, Abdullah Al-Yazouri.

It has since been claimed that Abdullah’s father Ayman Alyazouri is a senior figure who currently holds the position of deputy minister of agriculture in the Hamas-run government.

Critics have said the BBC has allowed itself to be used as a propaganda platform for Hamas by giving airtime to the child of one of its senior figures.

The child’s alleged family background was not revealed to viewers and it is not clear if the film crew were aware of the Hamas links.

The campaign group Labour Against Antisemitism has lodged a formal complaint to the BBC about the broadcast, claiming that the team failed to properly vet the documentary’s subjects.

Alex Hearn, from Labour Against Antisemitism, said: “This documentary appears to have been a failure of due diligence by the BBC, with Hamas propaganda promoted as reliable fact at the taxpayers’ expense. 

“There needs to be an urgent investigation into how this happened once again.