The BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to broadcast a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
