Exclusive: Palestinian child narrator of pulled BBC Gaza documentary speaks out

In his first interview with Middle East Eye, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone’s 13-year-old narrator Abdullah al-Yazuri speaks out after the BBC removed the documentary.

Abdullah, who spent nine months working on the film, says he was left devastated: "I recorded more than 60 hours of footage, and it was all wiped. It is extremely disappointing and heartbreaking for me."

Facing harassment and threats, he holds the BBC accountable: "If anything happens to me, the BBC is responsible."

He also calls for the documentary’s reinstatement, saying: "I was very impartial in this film. I did not add or take away anything. The script I read was provided by the production company."

The BBC removed the documentary following pressure from British officials, pro-Israel groups, and media figures over the fact that Abdullah’s father is a deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza’s government. The broadcaster later apologised, saying it had only learned of his family connection after the documentary aired.

Gaza Exposes How The World Order Is COLLAPSING - w/. Prof. Paul Rogers

Main events of March 5th

Palestinian group slams Trump’s threats

As we have been reporting, Trump has issued his “last warning” to Hamas as he called on the group to release “all” captives held in the territory immediately or face “HELL”.

The US president also threatened Palestinians in Gaza with death if they held Israeli captives.

In a statement, the Mujahideen Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, condemned Trump’s threat, saying it demonstrates the US government’s “insistence on continuing as a partner in genocide against our people”.

“Trump’s threats today clearly reveal the ugly face of the United States of America and show its lack of seriousness and its renunciation of the agreement it mediated,” the group said.

'CHILDREN': Doc Back From Gaza TRASHES Trump Speech Spectacle

Remembering Aaron Bushnell: How He Inspired People in the Military to Question U.S. Empire

We remember Aaron Bushnell, the U.S. Air Force member who died last year in an act of protest outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. On a live-streamed video, Bushnell said he could not be “complicit in genocide” while the United States continued to support Israel’s war on Gaza; he then set himself on fire, screaming “Free Palestine” until he collapsed.

Now just a year after Bushnell’s fatal self-immolation, we speak with an active-duty Air Force lieutenant who says she is inspired by Bushnell to seek a discharge from the military as a conscientious objector over the genocide in Gaza. “Any kind of contribution to the U.S. military inherently helps this machine of warfare and imperialism and oppression continue,” says Joy Metzler, who says many people in uniform suffer “moral injury” from their service.

We also speak with Levi Pierpont, a friend of Bushnell who says Bushnell’s death was “life-changing” for him. Pierpont has since visited Palestine and become a peace activist. “I went from being someone who had grown up Christian Zionist and was very sympathetic to Zionism to realizing how it’s interconnected with the American empire and realizing how we need to stand against it as Americans, because we’re implicated in it,” says Pierpont.

Israeli forces shoot Palestinian woman in the head in West Bank

We are getting reports of more casualties as Israeli forces continue a crackdown across the occupied West Bank.

According to Wafa and local sources, Israeli forces have:

European nations say Hamas must have no role in Gaza

More from the UN Security Council meeting on post-war Gaza.

French diplomat Jay Dharmadhikari, speaking on behalf of France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia, told reporters after the closed-door meeting that the final plan for Gaza should neither allow Hamas to continue governing the Strip nor displace the Palestinians who live there.

“We are clear that any plan must have no role for Hamas, must ensure Israel’s security, must not displace Palestinians from Gaza,” he said.

It should also “support the unity of the West Bank and Gaza under the Palestinian Authority’s mandate”, he said, referring to the body that partly controls the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and is run by Hamas rivals, Fatah.

Dharmadhikari noted that Arab League countries who met in Cairo had called on Tuesday to unite Palestinians under the Palestine Liberation Organization, which does not include Hamas.

European countries are ready to support and further develop those plans, he said.

European nations urge Israel to facilitate ‘massive, unhindered aid’ into Gaza

We’ve been covering the UN Security Council’s latest meeting on Gaza. Following the closed-door meeting, the five European nations on the council issued a statement urging Israel to “immediately let humanitarian aid flow into the Gaza Strip”.


‘Catastrophic’ Gaza situation as Israel prevents all aid from entering

France, Germany and the UK have described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” and urged Israel to ensure the “unhindered” delivery of desperately needed aid.

South Africa said Israel’s restriction of aid into Gaza amounted to using starvation as a weapon of war.

“We lack drinking water. People are complaining of lack of water in general. We cannot get rid of the waste, which affects the groundwater,” said Abu Hammam al-Hasanat, a 34-year-old who lives in the Gaza Strip.

The first phase of Gaza’s ceasefire ended on Saturday, and Israel has since imposed a total blockade on all goods entering Gaza, demanding Hamas release remaining captives without beginning the negotiations to end the war.

Fuel to run sewage treatment plants is fast running out in Gaza.

Palestine to intensify diplomatic action following Arab Summit

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry says it instructed ambassadors abroad to immediately intensify diplomatic action to explain the outcomes of the emergency Arab Summit and mobilise the broadest political and material support for it.

At the meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, the regional leaders endorsed a counterproposal to President Trump’s plan to expel Gaza’s 2.3 million residents and redevelop the Palestinian territory.

Egypt’s plan includes an initial recovery phase aimed at de-mining the territory and providing temporary housing, followed by a longer reconstruction phase focused on rebuilding essential infrastructure.

Momentum building for united Arab front on Gaza

Abdulaziz Alghashian, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation Middle East, says Arab nations are ironing out their differences and formed a united front to oppose any plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza.

No diplomatic efforts will be spared to rally the international community behind the Egyptian counterproposal to US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, he said. This was agreed on on Tuesday at a meeting of Arab leaders.

When it comes to negotiating with Israel, the Riyadh-based analyst said Saudi Arabia has “a card to play and that is normalisation”.

“The Israeli government wants normalisation so badly and this is the carrot that the Saudis could use to get concessions towards a two-state solution,” he said.

But Alghashian pointed out that while normalisation was high on Israel’s agenda prior to October 7, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu currently seems more interested in ensuring Palestinian statehood does not come to pass.

Mayor of Deir el-Balah sounds alarm over dwindling fuel supplies

It’s now been five days since Israel cut food, fuel and medicine to the Gaza Strip.

Nizar Ayyash, the mayor of Deir el-Balah, says the lack of fuel will make it nearly impossible to treat sewage or pump clean water.

“Closing the crossing will impact all aspects of life in Gaza, not just the Deir el-Balah municipality,” he said. “We are sounding the alarm because we fear the fuel that the municipalities need to treat sewage, pump water from wells, and also lift and remove waste will be cut off. This is a very difficult situation.”


‘Everything scarce’ in Gaza as Israeli blockade continues

This cessation of aid into the Gaza Strip is adding further humanitarian and financial burdens on Palestinians, who have been heavily impacted by the Israeli military operations over the past year and a half.

Palestinians are trying to store food despite the skyrocketing prices that have resulted from the closure of crossing points. It’s not only food that is highly required. But also medical supplies and essential reconstruction materials.

It is the holy month of Ramadan here, and for civilians, there is a desperate need for humanitarian aid.

We have been speaking to people in Khan Younis and heard horrific stories of how this cessation of aid is worsening their conditions. They say prices have surged, especially for vegetables and essential food supplies, including baby food and other child-related products.

They say everything is scarce and that people are at a loss.

On top of this, UN officials also say supplies at their warehouses could run out in weeks and we understand they will be forced to reduce the size of food portions they are distributing to families in need.

That’s why UN agencies and regional countries are calling for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, to avert famine and a new wave of desperation and suffering in the territory.

_{Palestinians have witnessed devastation as they returned to the northern part of the Gaza Strip}


Israeli blockade will have ‘devastating’ consequences for children in Gaza

UNICEF says Israel’s blockade is threatening lifesaving healthcare services for children, including newborns, in the Gaza Strip.

Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson for UNICEF, said the block on humanitarian aid, including vaccines and ventilators for pre-term babies, “will have devastating real-life consequences” for children and their parents.

“If we’re unable to bring that in, routine vaccination will come to a standstill,” she said. “Neonatal units won’t be able to care for preterm babies, so this is a real-life consequence that we’ll be dealing with very, very soon if we’re unable to resume the aid supplies coming in.”

Bollen, who is in Gaza, said existing supplies have already been largely distributed throughout the enclave.

“The needs are so high that we haven’t been able to stockpile goods … That’s why these latest restrictions are so devastating.

“The first phase of the ceasefire wasn’t just a pause in hostilities…it really was a lifeline for families here,” she added. “The mood here is very depressed; families that I speak with are deeply worried about what the future is going to hold.”

Gaza desalination plants to shut down in days as Israel blocks fuel

Dozens of community food kitchens are running out of supplies and will soon close because of Israel’s blockade, raising the spectre of a return of starvation conditions for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.

Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs network, said many kitchens have already run out of cooking gas, and the lack of fuel threatens to shut down vital desalination plants that provide clean drinking water to the population.

The plants will stop working “in a few days”, he said.

“This is not the first time we’ve faced famine during the war. Families are trying to manage but the situation is getting worse and worse,” Shawa told Al Jazeera from Gaza City. “We’ve lost so many children because of malnutrition and we hope we don’t reach this again.”

Rubio calls Hamas ‘monsters’, says Trump threats must be taken seriously

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged Hamas to take Trump’s threats seriously, warning the US president has “lost his patience” with the group holding captives in Gaza.

“He’s tired of watching these videos every weekend where hostages that are emaciated are released and bodies are turned over,” Rubio told Fox News.

“These are monsters. It needs to stop,” he added.

Rubio said if Trump “says he’s going to do something, he’ll do it”. Therefore, “they’d better take that seriously”.

Palestinians say they have already endured actual hell

The US president has been using very violent language and threatening to unleash hell on Palestinians.

But people here say the past 15 months of Israel’s war have been actual hell, not only the destruction and the devastation, but the ongoing killings as well as the trauma.

People had hoped the ceasefire would end their suffering, but so far, that has not happened. People wanted to return to their homes without fear of attacks, dehydration and starvation.

The statements by Trump as well as by Israeli officials all signal one thing – permanent displacement, permanent suffering and permanent misery for the Palestinian people.

And they don’t see an end to this until all parties commit to moving to phase two of the ceasefire. That’s the only guarantee for the suffering to end.

US obligated to press Israel to adhere to Gaza truce: Hamas

Trump’s threats demanding the immediate release of all captives in Gaza are complicating efforts to keep the ceasefire alive, Hamas says.

“These threats complicate matters regarding the ceasefire agreement and encourage [Israel] to refrain from implementing its terms,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told the Anadolu news agency.

“Hamas implemented all its obligations under phase one, but Israel is avoiding entering phase two,” Qassem added. “The US administration is required to pressure the occupation to enter negotiations for the second phase, as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement.”

Trump on Wednesday threatened further destruction of Gaza if all the remaining captives are not released immediately and told Hamas leaders to flee.

Hamas has commented on Trump’s warning to the group, saying the US president’s threats constitute support for Netanyahu to evade the terms of the signed ceasefire deal.

In comments to Reuters, the group said the best path to free the remaining captives is for Israel to enter the second phase of negotiations and be bound by the set conditions.

US envoy tells Israel to abide by Gaza ceasefire: Report

Steve Witkoff, the US envoy for the Middle East, has called on Israel to uphold the ceasefire with Hamas until he visits the region.

Witkoff’s trip to the Middle East has been postponed several times, but it is likely to take place next week, Israel’s Yediot Ahronot news outlet reported.

“Witkoff stressed that Israel must maintain the ceasefire in Gaza until he arrives in the region – even if Hamas refuses to release the hostages,” the news report said.

While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase of the deal until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.

Israel has ramped up pressure not just with threats of a return to war, but also by halting the flow of goods and supplies into war-devastated Gaza.

‘Unacceptable’: MSF condemns Israeli attack near Rafah medical facility

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has condemned a shooting near the al-Shaboura clinic in Rafah, southern Gaza.

The medical NGO said a Palestinian man was shot next to the entrance of the clinic, and a volley of gunfire forced health staff to take shelter inside the facility on Sunday.

“While we can’t confirm the source of these bullets, shots fired from the southern Israeli-controlled buffer zone are increasingly common and cost lives, despite the ceasefire,” Myriam Laaroussi, MSF’s emergency coordinator, said.

“This incident is unacceptable. It jeopardised the lives of our patients and staff.”

🔴Gaza: On the morning of 2 March, a Palestinian man was shot next to the entrance of the MSF-supported Al-Shaboura clinic, in Rafah. This was then followed by a round of bullets shot near the facility, leading our team to take shelter inside the clinic. A bullet hit the…

— MSF International (@MSF) March 6, 2025

Israel confirms deadly drone strike in Gaza City

The Israeli army has confirmed carrying out a drone strike in Gaza City’s eastern Shujayea neighbourhood that killed at least one person.

The military said in a statement the drone targeted a group of people attempting “to plant a bomb” near its troops.

Palestinian media earlier reported the strike targeted a civilian gathering and others were wounded.

According to phase 1 of the ceasefire Israeli troops shouldn't be near populated areas...

In tandem with the exchange of captives, Israel will withdraw its forces from Gaza’s population centres to areas no more than 700 metres inside Gaza’s border with Israel. However, that may exclude the Netzarim Corridor, the militarised belt bisecting the Strip and controlling movement along it – the withdrawal from Netzarim is expected instead to take place in stages.

Shujayea is 2.5 km from the border.


Analysis reveals 44 cemeteries in Gaza totally or partially destroyed

An analysis of satellite images conducted by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit has found 44 cemeteries in various areas of the Gaza Strip suffered total and partial damage during Israel’s war.

Mass burials and temporary cemeteries were also set up to bury thousands of bodies, imagery shows.

The analysis relied on satellite images taken before the war and up to February 14, in addition to official data obtained from the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Drone view shows devastation in Gaza’s Beit Hanoon

Drone footage has revealed the extent of the destruction in Beit Hanoon, northern Gaza, as residents camp near their homes flattened by the Israeli offensive.

_{A drone view shows houses in Beit Hanoon destroyed during the Israeli attack}

_{Hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians are living amid the rubble of their destroyed homes}

US, Israel agree to strengthen financial and trade ties

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have issued a joint statement following their meeting in Washington, DC.

The two men discussed “deepening economic cooperation, fostering innovation, and strengthening financial and trade ties” between the US and Israel, according to the statement.

“This is a critical time to shape a new strategic economic future for both countries, reinforcing American global leadership and Israel’s role as a key economic partner,” the statement said, adding that the two countries will continue “collaboration and deeper coordination across economic, technological, and financial policy areas”.

The statement did not refer to Israel’s threats to cut off Palestinian banks from their Israeli correspondent banks – an issue the Biden administration had repeatedly publicly raised concerns about.

US Jewish groups criticise Smotrich’s visit to Washington

We’ve been covering the far-right finance minister’s meeting with his US counterpart, Bessent, in Washington, DC.

It was the first ministerial-level meeting between the US Treasury Department and the Israeli government in four years. That’s because the previous administration of Joe Biden had effectively shunned Smotrich over his hardline views, even publicly rebuking his calls for the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.

J Street, a lobby group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace, said the Trump administration’s embrace of Smotrich “shows how much his racist ideology has been normalised”.

In a post on X, it added: “We must not forget: This is a man who has dedicated his life to inciting violence against Palestinians and erasing any chance of peace.”

Meanwhile, Hadar Susskind, the president of New Jewish Narrative, also said hosting Smotrich in Washington could “imperil the Gaza ceasefire”.

Writing in Jewish Forward, Susskind raised concerns that Smotrich’s US visit has been portrayed as a “comeback for a divisive leader who promotes racism, extremism and violence” in Israeli media.

That Smotrich is in Washington for meetings with Trump officials shows how much his racist ideology has been normalized. We must not forget: This is a man who has dedicated his life to inciting violence against Palestinians and erasing any chance of peace. https://t.co/LRfInE2hwE

— J Street (@jstreetdotorg) March 5, 2025