Gary Lineker told to apologise as GB News’s Ben Leo lashes out at BBC Gaza documentary: ‘Still waiting!’

GB News presenters Ben Leo and Nana Akua have called for Gary Lineker to apologise over a BBC Gaza documentary that was pulled after “serious flaws” were discovered.

The BBC has admitted mistakes in the making of “Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone” after it emerged the 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.

GB News presenter Nana Akua questioned whether celebrities who supported the documentary would follow the BBC’s lead.

Nana Akua said: “The BBC, though, is an issue. The fact that they’ve apologised is good, but I wonder whether the likes of Gary Lineker and all the other celebrities who backed this documentary and showed sympathy towards it, are prepared to apologise and do the same?”

Ben Leo said: “What an extraordinary story. It rolls on and on. We now know that the BBC did pay the family, the son of the Hamas commander they exchanged money. Was it license fee money?

“Indirectly, at least, it was licensed in £1,000. That is the cost of this documentary. So, what a gaffe.

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“The guy who exposed it took him all of five hours to figure out that some of the people in it were actors and that this guy was the son of a Hamas minister.

“I did say what a gaffe. But I mean, was it a gaffe? Was it intentional? Was it incompetence?

“The BBC has apologised, of course, but as you said, we’re still waiting for the likes of Gary Lineker to say sorry, as well as other celebrities.”

The BBC has apologised and removed the documentary from iPlayer after admitting “serious flaws” in its production.

In a statement, the broadcaster said it “takes full responsibility” for the “unacceptable” errors.

The corporation acknowledged the impact on its reputation.

The BBC confirmed it had not been informed about the teenager’s family connection to Hamas by the production company.

“It was then the BBC’s own failing that we did not uncover that fact and the documentary was aired,” a spokesperson said.

The broadcaster stated it has “no plans to broadcast the programme again in its current form or return it to iPlayer”.

The documentary centred on a boy called Abdullah who is the son of Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture. Hamas is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK and other countries.

The BBC revealed that Hoyo Films, the production company, paid the boy’s mother “a limited sum of money” for his narration. This payment was made via his sister’s bank account.

The broadcaster said Hoyo had assured them that no payments were made to Hamas members “either directly, in kind or as a gift”.