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The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.

An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".

The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".

The authority has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its decisions.

"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Erode Credibility'

The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.

"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.

"Trust is at the center of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."

The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.

A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."