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The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.

An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".

The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

Ofcom has directed the corporation to transmit a peak-time statement about its conclusions.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.

'Possibility to Erode Credibility'

The authority's announcement declared: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.

"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the details he provided.

"Trust is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

"This oversight had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."

The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.

A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."