THE BBC was accused of “throwing Palestinian children under the bus” after its director-general insisted that a documentary about Gazan children was pulled after losing trust in it.

Artists for Palestine UK slammed Tim Davie and the broadcaster’s chair Samir Shah following their grilling by MPs today over the removal of Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone from the BBC’s on-demand service.

Mr Davie told the culture select committee that he took the decision last week after uncovering that BBC questions to the independent makers of the film, Hoyo Films, had gone unanswered.

His decision and the BBC’s public apology for “serious flaws” in the making of the programme followed media reports that the narrator’s father Ayman Alyazouri had worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.

Mr Davie added: “It’s nothing to do with one side or another and this is where it's been misrepresented.

“What we did, and I did, and it was a very tough decision, was to say at the moment, looking at people in the eye, can we trust this film in terms of how it was made, the information we got and that’s how we made the decision, it’s a simple decision in that regard.”

He also welcomed calls for an independent “thematic” review of the BBC’s coverage of the Middle East after being challenged over the broadcaster asking Palestinian diplomat Husam Zomlot, “Do you condemn Hamas?”

Mr Davie said that the programme could return on iPlayer following a “forensic analysis,” which would look into a “small payment” being made to the sister of its child narrator.

Ofcom chairman Lord Grade has told the BBC that the regulator could step in if an internal inquiry into the making of the documentary is not satisfactory.

Artists for Palestine UK said: “BBC bosses must explain how they plan to safeguard the children who participated in the film.

“Their lives are in danger as Israel cuts off aid and threatens to collapse the ceasefire in Gaza.

“How will Britain’s public broadcaster ensure it isn’t putting a target on innocent kids’ backs?

“We welcome Tim Davie saying an independent review of the BBC’s Middle East coverage is appropriate and urge that this accounts for its abject failure to stand by the Palestinian voices it features.

“We all know Israeli guests would never be treated this way.”