The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The authority's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's parent held a role in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
