BBC investigation into Gaza children wins Best Short Film award

A BBC investigation into the circumstances of shootings of children in the Gaza Strip has won the Best Short Work award at the 2026 'Dig' Awards for Investigative Journalism. The film, directed by Stephanie Hegarty and produced in collaboration with BBC Arabic, reconstructs the circumstances of the deaths of two girls in separate incidents in November 2023.

A BBC investigation into the circumstances of shootings of children in the Gaza Strip has won the Best Short Work award at the 2026 'Dig' Awards for Investigative Journalism. The award was announced on Saturday evening, September 26, during the festival in the Italian city of Modena, where the film 'Investigating the Killing of Gaza's Children' won in the short works category. The 14-minute film, directed by Stephanie Hegarty, was produced as part of the BBC World Service and completed in collaboration with BBC Arabic, with the participation of journalists Abdel Rahman Abu Taleb, Ahmed Nour, and Woody Morris. The investigation reconstructs the circumstances of the deaths of two girls, Layan al-Majdalawi (2 years old) and Mira Tanbura (6 years old), in two separate incidents in November 2023, based on evidence collection and comparison. The broader investigation also collected data on 168 children who were shot since the beginning of the war until July 2025, including 95 who were injured in the head or chest, and 67 of them under the age of 12, relying on testimonies from their families and eyewitnesses, and interviews with 30 doctors and nurses. Journalist Abdel Rahman Abu Taleb explained that completing the investigation took months. The jury praised the investigation's use of open sources given the ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza. The investigation did not conclude that targeting was intentional in all cases, and could not determine the fate of all children, while the Israeli army was quoted as saying that intentionally harming civilians is prohibited.