The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to air a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's report declared: "Our probe found that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
