The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, 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 "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's report said: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
