Ch. 4 film, 'Doctors Under Attack': Propaganda framed as journalism

The documentary film “Gaza; Doctors Under Attack”, directed by Karim Shah and presented by Ramita Navai, was commissioned by the BBC but was ultimately broadcast by Channel 4. Contrary to the film’s boast, it’s nothing resembling a “forensic examination” of allegations that the IDF has intentionally attacked healthcare workers.

As the title of the film itself suggests, it’s based on the predetermined conclusion that Israel has “systematically targeted Gaza healthcare facilities and healthcare workers“, and then works backwards to ‘prove’ Israeli guilt.

“From the first days of the war”, viewers are told, “Israel attacked the thing that Gazans needed most, its healthcare system“, and that “Israel has been killing the people trying to keep the healthcare system alive, including doctors and medics, despite the fact that healthcare workers are protected under international law“.

Almost all of the evidence presented is in support of their conclusion. They provide some statements by the IDF denying many of the allegations, but there is no attempt to present exculpatory evidence that would support Israel’s denials. In other words, there is no real investigation into the Israeli side of the issue, nor an acknowledgement of ubiquitous evidence showing Hamas’s pattern, since as far back as 2007, of using medical facilities for military purposes.

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.

There’s also almost no reference to international law which stipulates that these healthcare facilities can lose their protection if combatants are using them for military purposes, as Hamas and other Gaza terror groups do.

The lack of scrutiny over Hamas’s claims and actions stands in stark contrast with their extreme skepticism – or outright dismissal – over the IDF’s claims.

Viewers are told that, “on Nov. 3 [2023], an Israeli strike hit a convoy of ambulances exiting the hospital. The Palestinian Red Crescent said 15 were killed. The IDF said the ambulances were transporting Hamas militants, but it did not provide any evidence”. Note that only one of the parties, the IDF, is accused of not providing evidence. The PRC’s claims are taken at face value.

A doctor alleges that he was told by the IDF to give them a list of all the patients/doctors at the al-Awda hospital, and that, if anyone stayed, they “would kill the women and children“. Viewers are spoon-fed such demonising unevidenced allegations without any pushback – and without any mention that the doctor didn’t provide evidence to back up his claim.

The director talks to Budour Hassan, an Amnesty International researcher in Ramallah, who alleges “Torture and unlawful treatment” of healthcare workers by the IDF shows “intent to destroy healthcare” and “genocide“. Hassan wasn’t asked to provide “sufficient evidence” (or any evidence) to back up her allegations. Evidence of Amnesty’s obsessive anti-Israel bias is also ignored.

After recounting an incident where a doctor in Gaza, Dr Khaled Hamouda, was detained by the IDF, but then (temporarily) sent to a prison in Israel, viewers are told that “The forcible transfer of prisoners is prohibited under international law“.

However, we contacted Anne Herzberg, legal director at NGO Monitor, who told us the following:

The documentary cites a general rule for which there are several exceptions. Art 49 of the Geneva Conventions explicitly states that security of the population or an imperative military reason is a legit exception and that this can be done outside the “occupied territory” when “for material reasons it is impossible to avoid such displacement.”. Obviously in an active war zone, it is not practicable to interrogate a suspected Hamas member and it is entirely legitimate for the IDF to bring them to Israel for questioning.

The film also interviews a West Bank academic, Dr. Layth Hanbali, from the Institute for Palestine Studies, who viewers are told “has been tracking Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s health care system” – another example of how the film’s premise of Israeli culpability is presented as fact.

Towards the end of the film, viewers are told that the Palestinian “Red Crescent says 27 of their medics have been killed on duty and 34 of their ambulances have been taken out of service due to Israeli attacks” with no mention of Hamas’s repeated use of ambulances to transport terrorists, or the circumstances of the medics’ deaths.

Viewers are also told that the IDF, and hostages themselves, claim that the Nasser hospital was used to hide hostages, but then quotes a Gaza doctor saying he never saw any hostages at the hospital – putting on equal footing the testimony of hostages with that of the doctor’s denial.

Viewers are also never told that medical professionals – and all civilians – in the territory likely fear arrest, torture or execution if they speak out about Hamas’s use of civilians (including docotrs and patients at medical facilities) as human shields.

The Channel 4 documentary resembles propaganda you’d expect to watch on Al-Jazeera, not on a mainstream British outlet which fancies itself a serious news organisation.