The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the very considerable amounts of trust that viewers would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision 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 truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
