The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to air a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and language are finalised."
