The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of trust that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's family links came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
