The documentary film "Gaza; Doctors Under Attack", directed by Karim Shah and presented by Ramita Navai, was commissioned by the BBC but was
by Adam Levick
Only towards the end of the film are viewers told that Mohammed Sinwar was eliminated in a tunnel hiding under the European Hospital – a fact which undermines the film’s premise, but is not presented as such. In fact, throughout the film, evidence showing that the IDF has arduously tried to avoid civilian/healthcare worker casualties is presented in a way which misleads viewers through language, music and stylistic choices, making it far less likely that they’d reach that conclusion.
For instance, viewers are told that “The army dropped thousands of leaflets warning the residents of northern Gaza to evacuate, and issued evacuation orders for hospitals in the north“, which, again, undermines their conclusion. But, that fact isn’t presented as evidence of anything other than patients and healthcare workers being ‘forced’ to leave, thus putatively representing more evidence of Israel’s efforts to undermine Gaza’s medical system.
Viewers are told that “In 20 months, all of Gaza’s hospitals have been attacked, forced to evacuate or destroyed“, framing the humanitarian policy of evacuating innocents as part of their overall ‘attack on Gaza hospitals’ narrative.
Viewers are also told that, in May 2024, when the IDF attempted to target terror operatives at Al-Awda hospital, the “IDF ordered evacuation orders…then raided and shut down the hospital“. But, again, the natural take-away about IDF efforts to save innocent patients and healthcare workers is intentionally obscured. It’s presented – by the use of words like “ordered”, “raided” and “shut down” – as another example of an ‘attack’ on Gaza’s healthcare.
Kamal Adwan Hospital, viewers are told, “was attacked after being forcibly evacuated.” The word “forcibly” before “evacuated” allows the filmmakers to give the impression of IDF malevolence, and as another example of an assault on Gaza’s healthcare, instead of as more proof that the IDF has gone out of its way to avoid harming innocent people at Gaza’s hospitals while targeting terrorists who exploit the facilities.
Another example of this gross distortion is when viewers are told that the Israeli “army invaded [a] hospital and displaced all the health care workers and patients”. In other words, they were evacuated to avoid harming them.
“At the start of the war, the IDF attacked Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa“, viewers are told, and that “Al-Shifa became a symbolic target for Israel“, wording (especially the word “symbolic”) falsely suggesting there was no military value in the strikes.
Viewers are told that “The IDF claimed there was a Hamas command center beneath it [al-Shifa]”, but omitted is that the White House and Pentagon had intel proving this.
Viewers are also told, concerning the IDF’s 2024 attack on terrorist targets at al-Shifa, that the IDF failed to provide “sufficient evidence showing the existence of a key Hamas command center” beneath al-Shifa, without explaining whose assessment that was based on, or how they define “sufficient evidence”?
There are also suggestions throughout the film that Israel was intentionally targeting civilians in Gaza to “weaken their resolve“.
The Oct. 7th massacre is almost entirely erased. They devote 42 seconds of the film describing and providing footage of the attacks. But, even then, viewers are told during that spectacularly brief segment, that “Israelis have been coming to this vantage point in Sderot to pay their respect for the dead and to watch attacks on Gaza“, while showing visitors at a lookout point overlooking Gaza from the Kobi hill. The clear suggestion is that Israelis ghoulishly enjoy watching attacks on Gaza.
Similarly, Hamas is erased. Their actions and decisions are not part of the film’s investigation. Their barbaric attack which started the war, motivated by an extremist, antisemitic ideology, is erased. Their documented human shield policy is similarly erased. In short, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terror groups in Gaza are treated as ghosts – as if, since Oct. 7th, they’ve played no role in the fate of the territory. Their role in the “destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system”, as a result of their use of such facilities for military purposes, is ignored – as is their cynical choice over 21 months not to surrender, despite the fact that surrendering would have spared Palestinian civilians, including healthcare workers, so much suffering.
Similarly, when viewers are told that “Homes, schools and universities have been destroyed, killing and injuring tens of thousands“, the hundreds of miles of Hamas terror tunnels under civilian areas is not mentioned, nor the fact that the IDF has encountered evidence of Hamas and PIJ military activity and weaponry in “homes, schools, and universities”.
All viewers are told is that “Israel says Hamas uses hospitals as part of its military strategy“, as if there’s no evidence to back up their “claims”. It seems that a real “forensic investigation” would focus on, and investigate, this.
