The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the very considerable amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
