The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to damage the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and language are determined."
