The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."
