The BBC’s Gaza documentary was declared to be “all clean of Hamas”, despite its narrator being the son of a Hamas minister, a report has found.

Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone was categorised as a “high risk” project by the BBC, yet was broadcast without crucial questions being answered.

A month before the broadcast, an editorial policy adviser at the BBC asked: “Has due diligence been done on those featured to ensure, e.g. the lead boy doesn’t have links in any way to [Hamas]? I’m sure it has…”

The question was never answered, but the programme went ahead.

Three members of Hoyo Films, the independent production company that made the documentary, knew the narrator’s family background but did not tell the BBC about it, the report found.

They paid Abdullah Alyazouri’s family £795 for his contribution, and also gave him a gift card for a computer game and a second-hand mobile phone, to a total value of £1,817.

The day after the documentary was broadcast, it emerged that Abdullah, the 13-year-old narrator, was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, a deputy minister for agriculture in the Hamas-led government.

An internal review conducted by Peter Johnston, the BBC’s director of editorial complaints, ruled that the documentary breached editorial guidelines on accuracy by failing to disclose “critical information” about Abdullah’s family history.

But it cleared the BBC of breaching impartiality guidelines, despite Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, earlier saying that the row was a “dagger to the heart” of the broadcaster’s reputation for impartiality.