The BBC has paid £28,000 in compensation to an Israeli household who survived the October 7 assault after a movie crew entered their destroyed house with out permission.
As first reported by Jewish Information, within the days after the assault, a BBC crew led by senior correspondent Jeremy Bowen entered the Horenstein household house within the small village of Netiv HaAsara, with out the household’s information.
The BBC crew even filmed private pictures of their kids at a time when lots of the household’s mates and family didn’t know in the event that they have been nonetheless alive.
Tzeela Horenstein stated Hamas terrorists attacked the village early within the morning and threw a grenade at her husband Simon as he stood exterior the property.
The couple and their two younger kids solely survived as a result of the door to their house twisted and jammed when the attackers, who had been attempting to seize them for “hours,” tried to blow it out with explosives, she stated.
She informed the publication: ‘Not solely did terrorists break into our home and attempt to kill us, however then the BBC crew got here in once more, this time with a digicam as a weapon, with out permission or consent.
‘It was one other invasion of our lives. We felt like all the things we nonetheless had management over was being taken away from us.”
Horenstein described their house as “a battlefield,” destroyed and declared uninhabitable, with the household solely capable of escape by crawling out the window and operating barefoot to their automobile.
She stated she found the filmed report ‘by chance’ from their house, leaving the ‘already heartbroken’ household to take care of ‘yet one more intrusion into our lives’.
“Even in occasions of battle, there are boundaries, and if a media outlet crosses them, it should be held accountable,” she added.
BBC Information issued a written apology to the household and paid them £28,000 in damages after authorized proceedings have been launched in Israel, Jewish Information reported.
Joaquin Floto, head of BBC Information’ Center East bureau, wrote the apology in Hebrew, expressing remorse over the household’s “misery” and calling getting into their house “a very good religion mistake as we believed consent had been given.”
“The BBC had no intention of harming you or inflicting you any inconvenience,” he added.
A BBC spokesperson informed PA concerning the case: ‘Whereas we don’t usually touch upon particular authorized points, we’re happy to have reached an settlement on this case.’
Final 12 months, Ofcom punished the BBC for breaching the Broadcasting Code within the documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, after the company did not make public a narrator’s hyperlinks to Hamas.
Hamas-led militants kidnapped 251 folks and killed round 1,200 folks, largely civilians, within the October 7, 2023 assault.
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The battle between Hamas and Israel then became a full-blown battle earlier than an more and more fragile ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, the final of which passed off in October 2025.
Greater than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed within the battle, in keeping with the Gaza Well being Ministry, which is a part of the Hamas-led authorities.
Specialists and main rights teams have accused Israel of genocide, and the Worldwide Legal Court docket is in search of the arrest of the nation’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its former protection minister for utilizing famine as a way of battle.
However Israel vehemently denies the accusations, saying it’s waging a lawful battle of self-defense and taking extraordinary measures to stop hurt to civilians.
Hamas, in flip, portrayed the October 7 assault as a response to many years of Israeli land seizures, settlement building and navy occupation.
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